SACEPO and its working parties
- Main SACEPO
-
The Main SACEPO is composed of 35 high-level practitioners with extensive experience in the IP field, appointed by the President of the EPO, either ad personam or on a proposal from BusinessEurope, epi, AIPPI, FEMIPI, FICPI, Union-IP, as well as IPO, JIPA, JPAA, KINPA, PPAC and the US Bar-EPO Liaison Council.
Focus in the Main SACEPO is on high-level topics such as the implementation of the EPO Strategic Plan 2023, initiatives in the area of Quality Management System, digitisation of the patent grant process, international co-operation, Unitary Patent and Convergence of Practice.
List of members
Mr Joachim BEE
BUSINESSEUROPE
Ms Bettina WANNER
BUSINESSEUROPE
Ms Sylvia COHEN
BUSINESSEUROPE
Mr Francesco MACCHETTA
BUSINESSEUROPE
Mr Bernhard MEHNERT
BUSINESSEUROPE
Mr Alois PEHAM
BUSINESSEUROPE
Ms Åsa RYDENIUS
BUSINESSEUROPE
Mr Jim BOFF
epi
Mr John GRAY
epi
Ms Anette HEGNER
epi
Mr Bogoljub ILIEVSKI
epi
Mr Francis LEYDER
epi
Mr Chris MERCER
epi
Ms Heike VOGELSANG-WENKE
epi
Mr Raymond E. FARRELL
AIPLA
Mr Koen BIJVANK
AIPPI
Mr Markus RIECK
AIPPI
Mr Paul Georg MAUÉ
FEMIPI
Mr Beat WEIBEL
FEMIPI
Mr Antonio PIZZOLI
FICPI
Mr Robert WATSON
FICPI
Mr Daniel J. STAUDT
IPO
Mr Shuichiro IMAI
JIPA
Mr Akitoshi YAMANAKA
JIPA
Mr Yoshinori SHIMIZU
JPAA
Ms Kumiko YAMADA
JPAA
Mr Yoon HEESANG
KINPA
Ms Yoon SUN YOUNG
KINPA
Mr Xuwen HE
PPAC
Mr Rui GOMES
UNION-IP
Mr Reinier WIJNSTRA
UNION-IP
Mr Paul COLETTI
US Bar-EPO Liaison Council
Mr Rubén BONET
Ad personam
Mr Andreas GRASSAUER
Ad personam
Mr Scott ROBERTS
Ad personam
Ms Olga SIRAKOVA
Ad personam
Ms Mihaela TEODORESCU
Ad personam
Ms Magali TOUROUDE PEREIRA
Ad personam
- SACEPO Working Party on e-Patent-Process (WP/ePP)
-
The SACEPO Working Party on e-Patent Process is the annual dedicated user forum accompanying the EPO's efforts in achieving Goal 2 of SP2023 of digital transformation.
It is composed of 28 experts in the field of patent prosecution nominated by user associations or selected as ad personam members by the President of the EPO.
Main topics of the meetings include optimising online filing tools, further enhancing the EPO online user area as well as broadening the offering of online fee payment options for users. Other aspects discussed recently are customer service management, including the EPO's Key Account Managers, IT Co-operation, and the EPO's online presence at epo.org.
List of members
Mr Joachim BEE
BUSINESSEUROPE
Mr Dermot ROCHE
BUSINESSEUROPE
Mr Yannick BIRON
epi
Ms Marjut HONKASALO
epi
Ms Theresa STADHEIM
AIPLA
Ms Ann de CLERCQ
AIPPI
Ms Manuela LOIDL
FEMIPI
Mr Kim FINNILÄ
FICPI
Ms Elena CERBARO
FICPI
Mr Robert B. FURR, JR.
IPO
Mr Shuichiro IMAI
JIPA
Ms Rie KAWAI
JPAA
Mr Seiji SOGO
JPAA
Mr Brian Sungpil CHUN
KINPA
Ms Eun-young HAM
KINPA
Mr Dong-woo PARK
KINPA
Mr Manyu LI
PPAC
Mr Albert ZHANG
PPAC
Mr Fabian EDLUND
UNION-IP
Mr Hans MERTENS
UNION-IP
Mr Paul TAYLOR
US Bar-EPO Liaison Council
Mr Rainer BÖCKELEN
Ad personam
Mr David BROPHY
Ad personam
Ms Dolinda DE PROOST
Ad personam
Mr John GRAY
Ad personam
Mr Michael LIEBETANZ
Ad personam
Ms Catherine MENES
Ad personam
Ms Magali TOUROUDE PEREIRA
Ad personam
- SACEPO Working Party on Guidelines (WP/G)
-
The SACEPO Working Party on Guidelines is the bi-annual consultative forum for the annual revisions of Guidelines for Examination in the EPO (EPC Guidelines) and of the Guidelines for Search and Examination at the EPO as PCT Authority (PCT-EPO Guidelines).
It is composed of 12 experts in the field of patent prosecution nominated by user associations or selected as ad personam members by the President of the EPO.
Within the annual revision cycle for the EPC and PCT-EPO Guidelines, SACEPO Working Party on Guidelines has a well-established role to play: each revision cycle starts with a public online consultation on the latest version of the Guidelines; feed-back from this consultation is discussed at the spring meeting of the Working Party; only thereafter are updates to the Guidelines drafted by the EPO which undergo an internal consultation and approval process as a next step. The resulting revisions are then reviewed by Working Party members over the summer and confirmed at the second meeting in autumn.
List of members
Mr Alois PEHAM
BUSINESSEUROPE
Mr Dermot ROCHE
BUSINESSEUROPE
Mr Heiko SENDROWSKI
BUSINESSEUROPE
Ms Anette HEGNER
epi
Mr Manolis SAMUELIDES
epi
Mr Martin WILMING
epi
Ms Tamara ELMORE
AIPPI
Mr Jordi KOX
FICPI
Ms Joana SANTOS
UNION-IP
Ms Brigitte CARION-TARAVELLA
Ad personam
Mr Felix HERMANN
Ad personam
Mr Gwilym ROBERTS
Ad personam
- SACEPO Working Party on Quality (WP/Q)
-
The SACEPO Working Party on Quality is the forum to foster a common understanding of quality between the EPO and the users of the European patent system.
It is composed of four geographical branches (Europe and neighbouring countries, Asia/Oceania, Americas and Africa/Middle-East) with a total of 75 experts in the field of patent prosecution appointed by the President of the EPO, either ad personam or on a proposal from user associations.
An essential feature of the Working Party on Quality are the Stakeholder Quality Assurance Panels (SQAPs) organised since October 2019. These are external assessment exercises held over several days in which external assessors, nominated amongst experienced patent practitioners by the EPO, epi and BusinessEurope, review specific EPO grant files. Each panel is led by two assessors who prepare detailed reports to be discussed with the panel members in order to allow an in-depth analysis of the selected files. The outcomes are then presented in a plenary session of the Working Party on Quality. While the focus of the SQAPs was on novelty and added-subject matter in 2019, the spotlight was on inventive step and clarity in 2021.
The Working Party on Quality is also consulted regularly to ensure the continuous improvement of the EPO's User Satisfaction Surveys. Finally, recent advances within the SP2023's Goal 3 of mastering quality at the EPO are shared and discussed with the Working Party members, for instance, the More Effective Office Actions initiative introducing a clear and uniform structure of precise headings and sub-headings for search opinions.
WP/Q Europe/ neighbouring countries
WP/Q Europe/ neighbouring countries: List of members
WP/Q Asia/Oceania: List of members
WP/Q Americas: List of members
WP/Q Africa/Middle-East: List of members
Mr Emmanuel KEDI BEH
AMOAPI
Mr Joseph ROWAN
FICPI
Mr David GILSON
SAIPL
Mr Andrew BAILEY
SARIMA
Ms Brenda MATANGA
ZIPTA
Mr Prof. Dr. Youssef ABDALLAT
Ad personam
Mr Mohammed AL-MASRI
Ad personam
Mr Mondher AL MENSI
Ad personam
Mr Salem AL-ZAHRANI
Ad personam
Mr Abdelhaq AMMANI
Ad personam
Mr Karim CHAIEB
Ad personam
Mr Mohamed EL HARZLI
Ad personam
Mr Mohamed GUEBLAOUI
Ad personam
Mr Mardson Queiroz McQUAY
Ad personam
- SACEPO Working Party on Rules (WP/R)
-
The SACEPO Working Party on Rules is generating input from user representatives regarding proposals for changes to the legal framework of the EPC, including in particular its Implementing Regulations.
It is composed of 12 experts in the field of patent prosecution nominated by user associations or selected as ad personam members by the President of the EPO.
Topics recently covered include oral proceedings via video-conference, adapting the legal framework to support the digital transformation, further streamlining opposition proceedings, online filing as well as the CNIPA-EPO Pilot on International Searching Authority files at the EPO.
List of members
Mr David GOODFELLOW
BUSINESSEUROPE
Mr Heiko SENDROWSKI
BUSINESSEUROPE
Mr Leo STEENBEEK
BUSINESSEUROPE
Ms Marjut HONKASALO
epi
Mr Chris MERCER
epi
Mr Martin WILMING
epi
Mr Heiko DUMLICH
AIPPI
Mr Henning LÜTJENS
FEMIPI
Mr Antonio PIZZOLI
FICPI
Mr Luigi FRANZOLIN
UNION-IP
Ms Cyra NARGOLWALLA
Ad personam
Mr Scott ROBERTS
Ad personam
- SACEPO Working Party on Patent Documentation and Information (WP/PDI)
-
This Working Party is composed of experts from patent documentation centres and libraries, experts from industry, and patent attorneys. The group meets once a year at the EPO's Vienna sub-office, providing members with updates on the EPO's products, services, and future projects in the field of patent information.
List of members
Mr David GOODFELLOW
BUSINESSEUROPE
Mr Paul Georg MAUÉ
BUSINESSEUROPE
Mr Arndt MECKE
BUSINESSEUROPE
Ms Gudrun OEHLER
BUSINESSEUROPE
Ms Birgitta GASSNER
epi
Mr Francis LEYDER
epi
Mr Chris MERCER
epi
Mr Paolo PROVVISIONATO
epi
Mr Philippe BODART
CEPIUG
Mr Aalt van de KUILEN
CEPIUG
Mr Charles MADORE
CEPIUG
Mr Guido MORADEI
CEPIUG
Mr Henrik SCHREIBER
CEPIUG
Ms Hannah SOPHIA
CEPIUG
Ms Katia SØRENSEN
CEPIUG
Ms Marjolaine THULIN
CEPIUG
Mr Christian WENDE
FICPI
Ms Birte BLICHENBERG
PDG
Mr Torsten GERBER
PDG
Ms Maike HOUTROUW
PDG
Ms Bettina de JONG
PDG
Mr José Ricardo AGUILAR
Ad personam
Ms Marta BARBA
Ad personam
Ms Monika HANELT
Ad personam
Mr Marcell KERESZTY
Ad personam
Mr Arne KRÜGER
Ad personam
Ms Hanna LAUREN
Ad personam
Ms Valérie MIEBACH
Ad personam