Annual Report 2019 of the Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office
The Annual Report 2019 of the Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office has been published today. It is available in English, German and French on the Boards' website.
2019 was again a very successful year for the Boards of Appeal. From 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2019, production (i.e. settled cases) in the Boards of Appeal increased by 46%. Productivity (i.e. cases settled with action divided by technical member capacity) increased by 27.8%. This remarkable increase is due to the continued, strong commitment of all the Boards' chairpersons, members and support staff to bringing down the backlog of pending cases. The Boards also increased their capacity by recruiting 17 additional technically qualified members in 2019.
Quality was once more at the centre of the Boards‘ activities in 2019. An important project in this regard concerns quality-focused decision making. A comprehensive document on the factors contributing to the quality of the decisions of the Boards of Appeal was drawn up, and has been published today on the Boards' website to inform the public about the Boards' definition of quality in a transparent manner.
A major milestone in 2019 concerned the conclusion of the extensive preparatory works for the revision of the Rules of Procedure of the Boards of Appeal. They entered into force on 1 January 2020 and are expected to increase efficiency, predictability for parties, and harmonisation.
Contact
Nikolaus Obrovski
Jeannine Hoppe
Spokespersons of the Boards of Appeal
Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office
Richard-Reitzner-Allee 8 | 85540 Haar | Germany
boa-press@epo.org