2014

In a joint interview with Managing IP, the President of the EPO, Benoît Battistelli, and the Chairman of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation, Jesper Kongstadt, are taking position on some questions related to the EPO that were recently debated in the media.

A current industrial dispute involving strike action at the European Patent Office (EPO) has been the subject of some recent public comment

After the Chairman's report on the last meetings of the Board of the Administrative Council, the President of the European Patent Office, Benoît Battistelli, presented his activities report. The Council expressed its clear satisfaction.

The Council addressed a number of points concerning senior employees and the Boards of Appeal. Specifically, the Council addressed disciplinary arrangements applicable to senior employees appointed by the Council under Article 11 (1)(2)(3) EPC and, noting its obligations under Article 11(4) EPC, agreed to set up a Council Disciplinary Committee.

The EPO has achieved ISO 9001 certification for its quality management system, which covers the search, examination, opposition, limitation and revocation stages of its patent granting process.

A current industrial dispute involving strike action at the European Patent Office (EPO) has been the subject of some recent public comment

Since the new Commission has taken office, EPO President Benoît Battistelli has met with two EU Commissioners whose responsibilities cover the field of patents.

The EPO has signed a Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot programme with the Israel Patent Office to enable accelerated treatment of patent applications starting in January.

More than 2 million patent applications were filed at the world's five largest IP offices in 2013, an increase of 11% over 2012, according to the 2013 edition of the IP5 Statistics Report just published.

A current industrial dispute involving strike action at the European Patent Office (EPO) has been the subject of some recent public comment.

Today the long-awaited Opinions of the Advocate General on the legal challenges by Spain against the unitary patent package have been issued by the Court of Justice for the European Union (CJEU).

The heads of the EPO and SIPO met in Brussels this week to discuss how to further improve and align their patent systems in order to better support innovation.

The EPO and India signed a Memorandum of Understanding on bilateral co-operation establishing a framework for structured work relations between the EPO and the Intellectual Property Office of India (IPO India)

Some 400 IP professionals from across the globe are gathering in Warsaw this week for the EPO's annual Patent Information Conference.

Two past European Inventor Award finalists have been awarded the 2014 Nobel Prize by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. European Inventor Award 2007 finalist Shuji Nakamura (US) has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics, and European Inventor Award 2008 finalist Stefan Hell (Germany) the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

In order to continue to improve the quality of services to its users by establishing a one-stop shop for applicants, the European Patent Office (EPO) today launched a new system for the online filing of patent applications.

In an effort to boost innovation and trade, the EPO has signed Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot programmes with the patent offices of Canada, Mexico and Singapore to launch accelerated treatment of patent applications, starting in January 2015.

EPO President Benoît Battistelli met Czech Minister of Industry and Trade Jan Mládek and other representatives of government, industry and academia in Prague this week to discuss how to further strengthen the patent system to support innovation and economic growth.

Over six million visitors in just 16 days. More than 6.7 million litres of beer served. The world's tallest drop tower. Munich's annual Oktoberfest - which begins this year on 20 September - is a showcase of superlatives.

Meeting in Santander, Spain, EPO President Benoît Battistelli and the Director General of the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office, Patricia García-Escudero Márquez, signed an agreement to promote the quality and efficiency of the Latin American patent system to the benefit of its users and of European industry in particular.

First published for the year 2012, the Social Report aims at creating a shared understanding of the current social situation at the EPO and of the challenges ahead.

"This is a strategic breakthrough for the patent system in Tunisia", said President Battistelli. "The agreement will simplify access to patent protection in Tunisia for European patent applicants and proprietors."

Under the "Early Certainty from Search" scheme, the EPO aims to issue all search reports and written opinions on patentability within six months of filing, to prioritise the completion of examination files it has already started over beginning work on new files, and to expedite grants once a positive search opinion has been issued.

At the meeting, the Council expressed its continued support for the EPO's quality/efficiency strategy adopted in 2011 under President Battistelli, which is being implemented by means of five „roadmaps" in the areas of IT, co-operation, human resources, buildings and quality.

EPO President Benoît Battistelli and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte jointly laid the foundation stone for the EPO’s new main building at the Rijswijk site.

The award ceremony, held at the former Kaiserliches Telegrafenamt (Imperial Telegraph Office) in Germany's capital, was attended by some 500 guests from the fields of business, science, culture and politics, including German Federal Minister of Justice and Consumer Protection Heiko Maas.

The EPO and the national patent offices of the EPO member states (incl. Extension states) met in Crete on 12/13 June to discuss how to advance co-operation in order to improve the quality and efficiency of the European patent system, and thus better serve inventors and industry.

Available at m.epo.org, the new site does not include all content of the main EPO website. Instead, we have concentrated on the services and information that users requested in surveys and focus groups.

The IP5 heads agreed to increase the quality of the patent documentation, promote public access to "file wrapper" information at the IP5 level, start work on patent harmonization, launch the update of the IP5 website and collaborate on the development of the Patent Cooperation Treaty system.

The EPO and SIPO today announced the launch of a new EPO service, called the Global Dossier, that displays European and Chinese dossier content on a family of patent applications (applications for the same invention filed at multiple offices).

At their annual bilateral meeting today in Seoul, the heads of the two offices agreed on a number of new co-operation projects aimed at increasing efficiency in the patent granting process through co-ordination and training in classification practices, and improved access to patent documentation.

The EPO’s new smart TV app brings innovation and inventors to your living room

Munich, 28 May 2014

EPO President Benoît Battistelli and President of the Turkish Patent Institute, Prof. Dr. Habip Asan, opened a conference of Europe's patent information centres (PATLIB) in Istanbul today.

Following the announcement of this year’s finalists for the European Inventor Award 2014 last week, we have now opened the competition to the public – you can now vote for your favourite individual or team to win the Popular Prize.

The EPO's Economic and Scientific Advisory Board (ESAB) has issued a statement on the Unitary Patent package, based on a study commissioned to Europe Economics and a report of a two-day workshop.

Fifteen pioneering inventors and/or teams have been named as finalists for the European Inventor Award 2014. The prize will be presented by the European Patent Office (EPO) at a gala ceremony in Berlin on 17 June.

The European Union's Observatory on Infringement of Intellectual Property Rights has launched a survey on the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights in third countries.

Munich, 26 March 2014

Munich, 27/28 March 2014

A dedicated Training Centre for the Unified Patent Court was officially opened today in Budapest. The centre will function as a coordinating office for the training of judges and candidate judges of the new court system which, together with the unitary patent, is expected to start operating in 2015.

In 2013 the EPO received 266 000 patent filings, compared to 258 000 in 2012. The EPO granted 66 700 European patents, which was 1.6% more than in 2012 (65 600) and the highest number ever.

The EPO signed a co-operation agreement today with the UK Intellectual Property Office aimed at helping both offices deliver high-quality and timely services to businesses and inventors.

Mr. Battistelli noted the growing economic significance of the Southeast Asian region and welcomed this new regional co-operation framework as a contribution to further consolidating the development of innovation and the knowledge-based society among the Members States of ASEAN.

Twenty-five senior patent professionals from Europe, Japan and the USA took the opportunity to share experiences with EPO examiners, lawyers and procedural experts in an effort to enhance understanding of how examiners apply Art. 123(2) EPC, and raise awareness among examiners of the problems encountered by users.

Meeting in Mexico City the heads of the EPO and IMPI agreed to enhance their co-operation on patents in an effort to support innovation in both regions.

This is a 2.8% increase over 2012 (257 700 filings), and a new all-time high. Last year, after a high-quality search and examination process, the EPO granted and published 66 700 patents, which was 1.7% more than in 2012 (65 600).