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The European Patent Office INTEllECTUAl PROPERTY 286 CHIMIA 2000, 54, No.5 Chimia 54 (2000) 286-287 © Neue Schweizerische Chemische Gesellschatl ISSN 0009-4293 Safeguarding Europe-Wide Patent Protection: the European Patent Office Ulrich Schatz* Abstract: The European patent system, created in 1977, provides for the co-existence of a national and a centralised procedure for the grant of patents. Central grant authority for European patents is the European Patent Office in Munich, which carries out its task on the basis of the provisions laid down in the European Patent Convention. The establishment of a Europe-wide patent system has led to a significant increase in the demand for patent rights in Europe. Inthe framework of their co-operation, the member states of the European Patent Organisation have also created a unique patent information network for accessing the information contained in patent documents. In view of its impending eastward expansion, the European Patent Organisa- tion is set to undertake a revision of the European patent system to ensure its flexibility in the future. Keywords: esp@cenet . Europe· Innovation· Internet· Patent information' Patents The conclusion of the European Patent borders proves that this Organisation has grounds for revocation by the EPO in an Convention on 5 October 1973 was an changed the landscape of industrial prop- opposition procedure and those by na- important milestone on the road to a uni- erty protection in Europe. The worldwide tional courts in revocation or infringe- fied patent in Europe. In 1997 the Europe- development in the field of patents has, ment procedures. Furthermore, the Con- an Patent Office celebrated its 20th anni- moreover, been significantly influenced vention provides for professional repre- versary, The founding of the European by the European Patent Convention enter- sentation before the EPO, creates the Patent Organisation in 1977 and the open- ing into force. link between procedures under the Pat- ing of the EPO in January 1978 ushered in ent Cooperation Treaty and under the a period of exemplary co-operation on EPC, contains provisions for the acces- An Intergovernmental Organisation patents in Europe. sion of new member states and condi- The establishment of a two-tier Euro- The European Patent Convention tions for its revision. pean patent system made up by the Euro- (EPC) provides the legal background for pean Patent Office (EPO) and the national the European Patent Organisation. The The Advantages of the European patent offices of the Organisation's mem- Organisation is made upoftwo bodies: the Patent System ber states is certainly among the most Administrative Council, where the Con- important and impressive achievements tracting States are represented as the su- The main objective of the European of European integration. The European pervisory body, and the European Patent patent system is to rationalise the granting Patent Organisation currently has 19 mem- Office as the executive body. Hence, the of patents, where Europe-wide protection ber states, namely all the EU countries EPO is not an institution of the European is requested, by applying a unitary and plus Cyprus, Liechtenstein, Monaco and Union although itcIosely co-operates with centralised procedure. By filing a single Switzerland. Other countries are expected Brussels in all patent-related matters. The application in one of the three official to accede in due course, and already today Office enjoys a large degree of adminis- languages - English, French, and German it is possible to extend the protection con- trative autonomy and is completely self- - an applicant can obtain patent protection ferred by European patent applications financing. Its operating and investment in as many member and extension states as and patents to a number of central and budgets, including a pension scheme for he likes. Further objectives are to harmo- eastern European states which are not its employees, are funded entirely from nise and improve the quality of pa- members of the Organisation. procedural fees and from part of the annu- tents granted in Europe and to contribute The EPO' s development from a small- al renewal fees levied on granted Europe- to the creation of the Internal Market of the scale office with a staff of around 100 in an patents by the national patent authori- European Union and the European Eco- 1977 into a many-sided European author- ties. The Office has its headquarters in nomic Area. ity employing more than 4600 people Munich, a branch in The Hague and sub- The rationalisation effect of the Euro- offering services which are held in high offices in Berlin and Vienna. pean patent becomes evident if one consid- esteem both within Europe and beyond its The EPC also lays down the princi- ers that the 113 000 European applications filed in 1998, each of them designating 7.5 'Correspondence: Dr. U. Schatz ples of the European patent in practice. Vice-President a.1. It specifies the subject matter for which states on average, are the equivalent of European Patent Office (EPO) Euro-pean patents shall be granted (pat- approximately 825 000 national patent ap- 0-80298 MOnchen Tel.: +49 89 2399 5200/Fax: +49 89 2399 5219 entability), determines the procedure for plications filed in all member states. How- E-Mail: [email protected] the grant of European patents, the ever, the systems for granting national pat- INTEllECTUAL PROPERTY 287 CHIMIA 2000,54, No.5 ents in the Contracting States continue to ent Cooperation Treaty. As an Interna- accessible on esp@cenet, the world's most exist alongside the European procedure, tional Search Authority (ISA) and Inter- comprehensive free-of-charge patent serv- which shows that each EPC member state is national Preliminary Examining Authori- er on the Internet. esp@cenet gives users perfectly free to choose or maintain the ty (IPEA) the EPa handles nearly 60% of point-and-click access to more than 30 system best titting its own traditions and the worldwide workload under the PCT million patent documents with a user in- economic needs, whereas theEPC provides every year. terface in the national language of each for a central grant procedure on the basis of member state. The service has been devel- a single patent application. oped with the intention of providing users The European Patent Infonnation Policy The protection effect of the European with a basic source of information which patent system has also been extended to In 1988 the Administrative Council of prepares the ground for a comprehensive six countries outside the Organisation: the European Patent Organisation laid patent search conducted by commercial Albania, Latvia, Lithuania, the former Yu- down the basic principles of a European patent information providers, patent agents goslav Republic of Macedonia, Romania, patent information policy on the basis of or patent offices. and Slovenia have concluded agreements shared roles between the EPO and nation- on the extension of European patent appli- al offices of the EPC Contracting States. Challenges for the Future cations and patents to their territory. More The EPa is to act as a central data produc- and more applicants are choosing this route er and wholesaler whereas dissemination The success of the European patent, to obtain patent protection in these coun- to end-users is the role of national offices the rapidly changing politicallandscapein tries in addition to the member states. as well as of the commercial sector. Europe and the progress in information The Convention establishes a central The rapid development of the Euro- technology are presenting the EPO with grant procedure on the basis of a single pean patent system and the advent of new new challenges to maintain its ability to patent application. This procedure is re- information and data storage technology react flexibly to the needs of the user cognised in all member states irrespective in the 1980s prepared the ground for deci- community. of their own national patent grant proce- siveimprovements in the information func- The increasing use ofInternet technol- dure. The European grant system is sup- tion of patent documentation. It is general- ogy in the Office's documentation and ported by 2600 examiners highly special- ly assumed that up to 80% of modern automation programmes has also acceler- ised in their respective technical fields. technical knowledge is disclosed only in ated the development of epoline, an elec- The search examiner has access to an patent documents. To make this wealth of tronic business system which will allow impressive documentation of 35 million information more easily accessible to the electronic filing of patent applications. classified patent documents from all over public and thereby to improve the patent- This and other projects aim at further the world and to about 40 000 periodicals based transfer of technology in Europe, improving the user-friendliness of the pat- using a sophisticated electronic search and the member states of the European Patent ent grant procedure at the EPa. documentation system that links all four Organisation agreed in 1988 on a patent The fast-growing importance of pat- sites of the Office. Thanks to the thorough information policy. The aim of that policy ents in European integration has initiated search and examination carried out in the is to publish the national, European, and the process of an eastward expansion of patent grant procedure, European patents international patent documents on CO- the Organisation. While Turkey, after rat- provide a reliable basis for investment. ROM (also recently on DVD) and data- ification of the EPC, is set to become the They also playa key role in the transfer of bases. Under the name of EPIDOS, the Organisation's 20th member state this year, technology in Europe. EPO offers a large variety of patent infor- the Administrative Council has formally mation products and services to the pub- invited the Czech Republic, Poland, Hun- lic.
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