2013

The EPO and the International Electrotechnical Commission have agreed to work closely together by facilitating the EPO use of IEC's standardisation documents in all phases of its patenting process.

This year's nominees cover the fields of medical technology, pharmaceuticals, optics, metallurgy, electronics, computers and LCD technology. They originate from nine European and two non-European countries. The 15 finalists were selected by a prominent international jury from 160 inventors and teams originally put forward.

The EPO's Economic and Scientific Advisory Board (ESAB) has drawn up recommendations for improving the patent system, based on the main findings from the Board's 2012 activities.

The number of patent filings at the European Patent Office (EPO) originating from the 38 EPO member states reached a new peak, beating the previous record set in 2008.

With 63% of the filings, a clear majority came from non-European countries (2011: 62%), while the share from the 38 EPO member states was 37% (2011: 38%).

The European Patent Office (EPO) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) today launched the Cooperative Patent Classification scheme (CPC), a global classification system for patent documents.