EPO meets with Johnson & Johnson
On 11 February, the European Patent Office (EPO) met with Johnson & Johnson (J&J), a global leader in pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical technologies. The J&J delegation was led by Vice President of Pharmaceutical Patent Strategy Frank Daelemans and members of the company’s IP department. On the side of the EPO, the meeting was chaired by Steve Rowan, Vice-President Patent Granting Process.
Mr Daelemans thanked the EPO for the meeting and commented on the value that such exchanges hold for the company. Given the essential role that reliable patents play in allowing J&J to bring new healthcare solutions to patients, quality was a major focus of the discussions, with Mr Daelemans noting that “the EPO symbolises high quality with its robust examination and strong search.”
Patent quality driving healthcare innovation
The meeting forms part of the EPO’s Quality Action Plan initiative to deepen dialogue with users and marked the second such exchange with a large applicant this year. Following the meeting, an interview was recorded with J&J’s Director of IP policy, Rim Ghedira. During the interview she expressed J&J’s appreciation for the opportunity to share its patent prosecution experiences with the EPO. She emphasised the essential role that a reliable and predictable European patent system plays in driving healthcare innovation and R&D investment, spoke about quality at the EPO and discussed some of the benefits of the Unitary Patent system and how J&J is monitoring its development.
This is the ninth interview in the series “The voice of our users”. In each episode, we invite users to share their views on the EPO, our practices and the patent system.
About Johnson & Johnson
J&J employs approximately 138 000 people and conducts business in virtually all countries of the world. The company filed 753 patent applications in 2024 and ranked as the EPO’s top 19th applicant in 2023.
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