EPO and BusinessEurope strengthen dialogue on quality and innovation

On 2 December, President António Campinos led an EPO delegation in a constructive exchange with BusinessEurope’s Patents Working Group. The annual online meeting, chaired by Thierry Sueur in his capacity as Chair of the Working Group, brought together European industry representatives and the EPO to review recent developments and discuss priorities for the year ahead.

In his opening remarks, President Campinos highlighted continued progress under the EPO’s Strategic Plan 2028, improvements in quality and timeliness, the Office’s solid financial and operational performance, and its human-centric approach to digitalisation and AI tools.

Participants discussed recent developments related to the Unitary Patent and validation agreements that extend the European patent’s geographic reach beyond Europe. The exchange also covered other areas of shared interest, including substantive patent law harmonisation and the future work of the EPO’s Observatory on Patents and Technology on Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) and FRAND-related issues. They also addressed trends in AI-related patent filings and the EPO’s third basket of legal changes aimed at achieving a fully paperless process by 2027.

Growing interest in the Unitary Patent

Participants highlighted the success of the Unitary Patent system, which provides a simpler, more cost-effective route to patent protection and dispute settlement across Europe. The system is now widely trusted and used, with more than 75 000 requests for unitary effect since its launch in 2023, over 60% from EU-based proprietors, and a strong uptake by SMEs, universities, and public research organisations. Discussions reaffirmed the Unitary Patent’s strategic value for European competitiveness, as outlined in the Draghi report, which calls on all EU member states to join the system.

The EPO and BusinessEurope also stressed the importance of completing an efficient, well-functioning regime for Unitary Supplementary Protection Certificates (USPCs) to further reduce fragmentation, administrative burden, costs and legal uncertainty for innovators. BusinessEurope expressed its support for a coherent framework consistent with the Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court, including an appropriate role for the EPO.

Support for smaller entities

The meeting also addressed support for SMEs and micro-entities, which are key drivers of the European economy, as highlighted in the Draghi report. The EPO outlined its ongoing initiatives to lower the barriers to patenting for smaller entities to help them scale up their inventions. BusinessEurope welcomed this approach, endorsing financial support for smaller innovators. 

Follow-up on quality discussions

A recent working-level exchange between the EPO and BusinessEurope was held in October and focused on quality-related topics. Chaired by EPO Vice-President Steve Rowan and Thierry Sueur, the session covered the 2024 Quality Report and actions under the Quality Action Plan 2025, Stakeholder Quality Assurance Panels (SQAPs), the Active Search Division, handling of third-party observations, and efforts to strengthen consistency and dialogue-driven examination.

Together, these meetings underscore the shared commitment of the EPO and BusinessEurope to maintaining an open and constructive dialogue. This co-operation helps to ensure that the European patent system continues to serve the needs of innovators and industry through high quality, legal certainty and efficiency.