EPO hosts annual bilateral meeting with AIPLA
Vice-President Steve Rowan and AIPLA President Salvatore Anastasi with their respective delegations
On 26 March, the European Patent Office (EPO) welcomed to its headquarters in The Hague a delegation from the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) led by AIPLA President Salvatore Anastasi. This annual bilateral meeting forms part of the EPO's long-standing collaboration with key user associations from the United States.
The EPO delegation was led by Vice-President Patent Granting Process Steve Rowan, who emphasised the importance of engaging with US users to support a high-quality, predictable and future-oriented European patent system. He said, “Regular dialogue with AIPLA helps ensure that our procedures, digital tools and quality initiatives respond effectively to the needs of users operating in global patent environments.”
Discussions focused on quality, legal certainty and digital transformation across the patent lifecycle. The EPO presented the targeted actions laid out in its Quality Action Plan 2026, which builds on the achievements of previous plans through continued investment to ensure that examiners stay at the cutting edge of all areas of expertise and are supported by powerful digital tools. This is complemented by measures to reinforce procedural consistency, quality and timeliness across the patent granting process, delivering the legal certainty that users expect, through the harmonised application of the European Patent Convention.
Open dialogue on the Unitary Patent, digitalisation and legal developments
Exchanges also highlighted the growing strategic relevance of the Unitary Patent (UP) and Unified Patent Court (UPC) for US applicants, who continue to constitute the largest group of non-EPC applicants, accounting for 16.6% of UP requests, following a 28% increase in uptake in 2025. Discussions on the topic reflected growing familiarity with, and confidence in the UP and UPC among US users.
Further updates were shared on digitalisation initiatives, the work of the EPO Observatory on Patents and Technology and the EPO Academy. Legal developments were also discussed, notably the pending referral G1/25 on adaptation of the description and recent developments in EPO examination practice for antibody-related inventions. The discussions also highlighted the significant use of the EPO’s patent validation system by US applicants looking to extend the reach of their European patents beyond the countries of the European Patent Convention.
Mr Anastasi welcomed the exchanges and underlined the value of continued dialogue on quality and legal developments for the wider US user community.
The meeting concluded with a shared commitment to continued EPO-AIPLA dialogue through annual bilateral meetings as well as follow-up exchanges planned for 2026.
