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Poll praises patent quality at the EPO
5 November 2009
Preliminary results of a survey of IP lawyers and attorneys show that the EPO is seen as the leader in terms of patent quality.
More than 450 practitioners, both in-house IP counsel and attorneys working in private practices, have so far responded to the Annual IP Executive Benchmarking Survey, carried out by Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) magazine and Thomson Reuters.
According to a post on the IAM blog last week, 70% of in-house respondents believe that EPO quality is excellent or very good. In the same group, more than a quarter (26%) said that patent quality at the EPO has improved over the last year, while 71% believe it has stayed the same. Only 3% believe that the quality of patents issued by the EPO has got worse.
The EPO also scored top for quality among private practices, with 56% answering that our patent quality is excellent or very good. Around 29% say patent quality has improved in the past 12 months, while 64% have noticed no change from last year. Just 7% said the quality had decreased.
"Clearly the EPO is regarded as the pace-setter among the world's leading patent offices," IAM Editor Joff Wild wrote in the blog.
The final results of the survey, which is still ongoing, are expected in January.
Further information
- IAM magazine blog: In-house and private practice agree - the EPO is top for patent quality