Communiqués 2014
11th meeting of the Select Committee of EU Participating Member States in the enhanced cooperation on Unitary Patent Protection (Munich, 9 December 2014)
The Select Committee held its 11th meeting in Munich on 9 December 2014.
The Committee approved in principle the Draft Rules relating to Unitary Patent Protection except for the draft Rule on financial issues which would be discussed later on in the framework of budgetary and financial issues. The consolidated version of the draft Rules will be made available on this website shortly.
Work on the level of renewal fees continued on the basis of additional simulations of fee level scenarios submitted by the Office.
The Committee launched preparatory work on the distribution key for the repartition of renewal fees between the EU participating member states.
Lastly, the Committee has agreed on the organisation of its work during the first semester 2015 in order to take by the end of June 2015 the appropriate decisions on the financial and budgetary aspects of the implementation of the Unitary Patent Protection.
Select Committee Secretariat
142nd meeting of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation (Munich, 10 and 11 December 2014)
The Administrative Council held its 142nd meeting in Munich on 10 and 11 December 2014
with Jesper Kongstad, Director General of the Danish Patent Office, in the chair.
After the Chairman's report on the last meetings of the Board of the Administrative Council, the President of the European Patent Office, Benoît Battistelli, presented his activities report. The Council expressed its clear satisfaction.
The Council then exchanged information on strategic matters within the Organisation and on the social climate and addressed a particular issue concerning alleged misconduct by a Council appointee under Article 11 (3) EPC, reported separately on this website.
Further, the Council proceeded with a series of appointments and re-appointments to positions in the boards of appeal.
Later, the Council heard status reports on the Unitary patent and related developments as well as on substantive patent law harmonisation.
Lastly, the Council adopted a reform of the career system as well as the draft budget for 2015.
Council Secretariat
Communique on decisions taken by the Administrative Council at its 142nd meeting concerning senior employees and appointments and reappointments to the Boards of Appeal
The Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation held its 142nd meeting in Munich on 10 and 11 December 2014 under the chairmanship of Jesper KONGSTAD (DK).
The Council addressed a number of points concerning senior employees and the Boards of Appeal. Specifically, the Council addressed disciplinary arrangements applicable to senior employees appointed by the Council under Article 11 (1)(2)(3) EPC and, noting its obligations under Article 11(4) EPC, agreed to set up a Council Disciplinary Committee.
The Council took this opportunity to reiterate its full endorsement of and support for the principle of independence of the members of the Boards of Appeal, as specifically set out in Article 23 EPC and generally embodied in internationally recognised principles of judicial independence.
The Council also made four re-appointments of members of the Enlarged Board of Appeal and Chairmen and legally qualified members of the of Boards of Appeal pursuant to Art 11(3) EPC, as well as a total of twelve appointments and re-appointments of legally qualified members of the Enlarged Board of Appeal pursuant to Art 11(5) EPC.
On a proposal from the President of the Office, the Council addressed and carefully considered a particular issue concerning alleged misconduct by a Council appointee under Article 11 (3) EPC. As a precautionary and conservative measure without anticipating any further steps which may ensue, the Council unanimously decided to suspend the person concerned from active duty on full salary until 31 March 2015. The Council requested the investigation to be completed as soon as possible, in order to allow it to decide on the next steps. The Council expressed its concern at an incident unique in the history of EPO.
Details of the appointments and reappointments as well as of other decisions taken by the Council at this meeting will be published separately.
Council Secretariat
10th meeting of the Select Committee of EU Participating Member States in the enhanced cooperation on Unitary Patent Protection (Munich, 28 and 29 October 2014)
The Select Committee held its 10th meeting in Munich on 28 and 29 October 2014.
The Committee approved certain technical adaptations to the Draft Rules relating to Unitary Patent Protection and left one technical aspect for further discussion in December. The consolidated version of the draft Rules will be made available on this website following the December meeting of the Committee.
Work on the level of renewal fees continued on the basis of a presentation given by the Office on the estimated costs of unitary patent protection. This work will continue in December. The Committee also noted and discussed a simulation concerning fee reductions for SME's.
Lastly, the Committee agreed to launch work on the distribution key for the repartition of renewal fees between the participating member states.
Select Committee Secretariat
141st meeting of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation (Munich, 15 October 2014)
The Administrative Council held its 141st meeting in Munich on 15 October 2014
with Jesper Kongstad, Director General of the Danish Patent Office, in the chair.
After the Chairman's report on the last meeting of the Board of the Administrative Council, the President of the European Patent Office, Benoît Battistelli, presented his activities report which will be published shortly on this website. The Council expressed its full support and clear satisfaction.
The Council then exchanged information on strategic matters within the Organisation and the social climate.
Further, the Council proceeded with a series of appointments. Matthias Bank (DE) was appointed chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Reserve Funds for Pensions and Social Security for a three-year term, starting on 1 January 2015. Salih Bektaş (TR) and Gábor Németh (HU) were appointed deputy members of the Supervisory Board of the Academy of the European Patent Organisation for a three-year term starting on 15 October 2014.
Later, the Council heard a status report on the Unitary patent and related developments, given by the Italian delegation, representing the country holding the EU presidency for the second half of 2014.
Concerning substantive patent law harmonisation, the Council debated conclusions to draw from the Final Consolidated Report on the Tegernsee User Consultation. The majority of those who spoke were in favour of a multilateral solution and the so-called Group B + process.
Lastly, the Council adopted a set of amendments to the Implementing Regulations to the EPC concerning, among others, postal services and electronic communication (the corresponding decision - CA/D 6/14 - will be published shortly on this website).
Council Secretariat
9th meeting of the Select Committee of Participating Member States in the enhanced cooperation on Unitary Patent Protection (The Hague, 24 June 2014)
The Select Committee held its 9th meeting in The Hague on 24 June 2014.
The Committee has adopted in principle the Draft Rules relating to Unitary Patent Protection, with the exception of some technical aspects that require further discussion and one rule relating to financial aspects that will be discussed after the summer holiday together with other financial issues.. These draft Rules concern the procedures that will be applied by the EPO in carrying out the administrative tasks relating to the European patent with unitary effect.
Work on the level of renewal fees which will have to be fixed by the participating Member States in the Select Committee continued on the basis of two further presentations given by the Office on simulations of fee scenarios and their financial implications for the Office. This work will continue in October.
Select Committee Secretariat
140th meeting of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation (The Hague, 25 and 26 June 2014)
The Administrative Council held its 140th meeting in The Hague on 25 and 26 June 2014
with Jesper KONGSTAD, Director General of the Danish Patent Office in the chair.
The Council elected Josef KRATOCHVÍL (CZ) as Chairman of the Technical and Operational Support Committee (TOSC) with effect from 26 October 2014 and Bucura IONESCU (RO) as deputy chairman of the TOSC with effect from 1 July 2014 as well as Patricia GARCIA-ESCUDERO (ES) and
Marco DINIS (PT) as members of the Supervisory Board of the Academy with effect from 26 June 2014.
In 2011 the Council adopted a quality/efficiency strategy to be implemented by means of five Roadmaps in the areas of IT, Co-operation, Human Resources, Buildings, and Quality.
At its meeting this week the Council discussed a set of updated Roadmap documents which described progress made so far and made specific proposals for further action in each area.
The Council fully endorsed the steps taken and the progress achieved so far and unanimously approved the proposals for further action in all five of the updated Roadmaps.
The Council further expressed support for the policies pursued in each area by the President of the Office, Benoît BATTISTELLI and decided to extend his mandate by three years, up to 30 June 2018, in order to bring the Roadmaps to fuller fruition.
In further developments, the Council noted the second Social Report on the social conditions prevailing at the European Patent Office, making the report available to the public. The Council also approved a revised salary adjustment procedure for permanent staff of the EPO.The method is based on established principles of parallel development with national salary scales and conservation of purchasing parity. The new method ensures greater oversight by the Council, with a closer link to macroeconomic conditions in the Contracting States. For the first time, full details on the working of the salary adjustment method will be made available to the public.
Finally, the Council approved the accounts for 2013, which showed an overall Budget surplus of
€ 317m, an all-time high and unanimously approved general orientations for the budget of 2015.
Council Secretariat
8th meeting of the Select Committee of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation (Munich, 26-27 May 2014)
The Select Committee of the Administrative Council held its 8th meeting in Munich on 26-27 May 2014.
Preparatory work on the level of renewal fees, which had started at the 5th meeting held on 30 October 2013, continued on the basis of simulations of fee scenarios and their financial implications. On this subject, the Office gave several presentations.
The committee held a first exchange of views on those presentations, with a view to continuing discussions at the 9th meeting, to be held on the 24th of June.
Select Committee Secretariat
139th meeting of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation (Munich, 27-28 March 2014)
The Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation held its 139th meeting yesterday and today in Munich, with Jesper Kongstad, Director General of the Danish Patent Office holding the chair.
After the Chairman's report on the last meeting of the Board of the Administrative Council, which assists the Chairman in preparing the Council's work, the President of the European Patent Office presented his activities report, setting out a comprehensive account of the Office's activities in 2013. The Council was pleased to hear that positive trends registered in recent years had been continuing in 2013. Outstanding results have been achieved last year in all areas. This included the implementation of measures outlined in the Human Resources Roadmap presented by the President and approved by the Council in 2011. The Council encouraged the President to maintain efforts to reforming the EPO social policy. This matter was again addressed at a later stage during the meeting, when the Council discussed and unanimously approved a proposal from the President, aiming at reforming the arrangements for staff representation at the EPO.
The Council then proceeded with a series of appointments. Sean Dennehey (UK) was re-elected chairman of the Committee on Patent Law for a three-year term, starting on 30 March 2014. Several members and chairs of the Boards of Appeal were also appointed or re-appointed.
Under the heading Legal and International Affairs, the Council heard the status report on latest developments concerning the Unitary patent, given by the Head of the Hellenic delegation, representing the country holding the EU presidency for the first half of 2014, and the report of the chairman of the Preparatory Committee of the Unified Patent Court. The chairman of the Select Committee (set up by the 25 EPC contracting states participating in the enhanced co-operation on unitary patent protection to supervise the EPO's activities related to the tasks entrusted to it in the context of unitary protection) reported then on the committee's 7th meeting, held the day before the Council meeting (see Communiqué on the 7th meeting of the Select Committee).
Finally, the Council authorized the President to sign on behalf of the Organisation a new agreement with the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany. This new agreement, amending the Agreement of 19 October 1977 between the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany and the European Patent Organisation on the setting up of the Berlin sub-office of the European Patent Office, specifies the conditions under which the renovation of the Berlin sub-office will be performed and the premises made available to the European Patent Office after renovation.
Council Secretariat
7th meeting of the Select Committee of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation (Munich, 26 March 2014)
The Select Committee of the Administrative Council held its seventh meeting in Munich on 26 March 2014. For the first time, observers from EPC Contracting States attended.
The Committee completed its second reading of the Draft Rules relating to Unitary Patent Protection. These draft Rules concern the procedures that will be applied by the EPO in carrying out the administrative tasks relating to the European patent with unitary effect.
The Committee adopted the rules relating to the compensation scheme for costs for translations of applications filed in an EU official language which is not one of the official languages of the EPO, the reimbursement of which is available to patent holders obtaining a European patent with unitary effect. However, the financial aspects of the compensation scheme, including the amount to be compensated, will be discussed at a later stage.
The Committee exchanged views on possible measures at Member States' level which could accompany the Unitary Patent Protection.
Lastly, the Committee also adopted its work programme for 2014.
Select Committee Secretariat