CA/44/17 Orig.: en Munich, 24.02.2017
SUBJECT: President's activities report
SUBMITTED BY: President of the European Patent Office
ADDRESSEES: Administrative Council (for information)
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Subject Page
I. INTRODUCTION 1 II. DG1 WORKLOAD AND PRODUCTION 1 a) Filings 1 b) Efficiency 2 c) Publications 4 d) Time to delivery of the search products 4 e) Time to publication of the patent 5 III. MEASURES TAKEN IN DG1 TO IMPROVE PERFORMANCE, QUALITY AND SERVICE 8 A. EXAMINER RECRUITMENT IN 2016 8 B. "ESPRIT DE SERVICE" 8 a) "Esprit de service" | "VICO for Oral Proceedings" 8 b) "Esprit de service" | Customer relationship Management (CRM) 9 c) "Esprit de service" | Praktika Extern 2016" 10 d) "Esprit de service" | 1LCS 11 C. CAREER PATH AND REORGANISATION 11 a) Examiner Career: Team Managers and Senior Expert Examiners 11 b) Performance Management 12 c) DG1 Quality Action Plan 13 d) Harmonisation activities in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) area 17 D. PROCEDURES 18 a) Early Certainty from Search (ECFS) 18 b) Extension of Early Certainty (Examination and Opposition) 20 c) PCT Direct 23 d) Guidelines for Examination at the European Patent Office 23 e) Amended Rules 51 and 162 EPC as of 01.01.2017 23 E. CLASSIFICATION 24 a) Training activities for the Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) 24 b) Quality measures in the CPC 25 c) The benefits of the CPC for the EPO 25
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IV. IT AND AUTOMATION PROJECTS 27 A. ITR – DELIVERIES FOR EXAMINERS 27 B. ITR – OTHER DELIVERIES 28 C. OTHER AUTOMATION DELIVERIES 29 a) Patent Grant Program 29 b) Knowledge Management and Search Program 30 c) Corporate Area 31 d) Security and Infrastructure 32 D. OTHER DEVELOPMENTS IN AUTOMATION 32 V. BUILDINGS AND PROCUREMENT 33 A. SECURITY 33 B. NEW MAIN THE HAGUE 33 C. OTHER BUILDING PROJECTS 34 D. PROCUREMENT 34 VI. QUALITY 35 A. QUALITY MANAGEMENT STRATEGY AND INDICATORS 35 B. USER CONSULTATIONS AND SURVEYS 36 VII. HUMAN RESOURCES 37 A. TALENT ACQUISITION AND CAREER DEVELOPMENTS 37 a) Examiner recruitment 37 b) Team manager 38 c) Senior Expert 38 B. WELL-BEING, HEALTH AND SAFETY TRENDS AND OSHRA FOLLOW-UP 39 C. CONFLICT RESOLUTION 41 a) Management review Requests 41 b) Internal Appeals 41 c) Complaints to ILOAT 42 d) Interpersonal conflicts resolution 42
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D. DEVELOPMENT OF THE SALARY MASS: REWARD EXERCISE 2016 AND ANNUAL ADJUSTMENT OF SALARY SCALES 43 a) Reward exercise 2016 43 b) Adjustment of salary scales 44 E. SOCIAL INITIATIVES 44 a) Social dialogue / MoU with trade unions 44 b) Review exercise and follow-up discussions 45 VIII. EPN 46 A. CO-OPERATION WITH MEMBER STATES 46 B. EUROPEAN PATENT ACADEMY 48 a) Institutional Strengthening 48 b) Judicial Training 49 c) Innovation Support 49 d) Professional representatives 50 e) Academia 50 f) e-learning 51 C. CO-OPERATION WITH EUIPO 51 D. REPRESENTATION BEFORE THE EPO 52 E. EUROPEAN PATENT REGISTER 53 F. PATENT INFORMATION 54 IX. EPO AS A GLOBAL PLAYER 55 A. INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS 55 B. BILATERAL RELATIONS 55 a) Validation System 55 b) Technical Co-operation 56 C. IP5 COOPERATION 57 a) Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) 58 b) Patent Harmonisation Expert Panel (PHEP) 58 D. TRILATERAL COOPERATION 59 E. STRENGTHENING THE PCT 59 F. SUBSTANTIVE PATENT LAW HARMONISATION 60 G. CO-OPERATION WITH WIPO 61
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X. UNITARY PATENT / UNIFIED PATENT COURT 61 A. UNITARY PATENT 61 B. UNIFIED PATENT COURT (UPC) 62 C. UNITARY PATENT PROTECTION DIVISION 62 XI. EPO AND THE SOCIETY 63 A. ANNUAL REPORT 2015 63 B. EUROPEAN INVENTOR AWARD 64 C. EPO-EUIPO STUDY ON THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF IP 66 D. CLIMATE CHANGE, GREEN TECHNOLOGIES AND BIOTECHNOLOGIES 66 XII. CONCLUDING REMARKS 66 XIII. RECOMMENDATION FOR PUBLICATION 67
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I. INTRODUCTION
In order to ensure improved transparency and enhance reporting of Office activities to the Council, a comprehensive overview of the year just passed is presented to each March meeting of the Council. This present report thus sets out a comprehensive account of activities in 2016.
II. DG1 WORKLOAD AND PRODUCTION
Production in 2016 has been 8.5% higher than in 2015, with 31 171 additional finalised products. The search output has slightly increased by 3% and full depletion of the search backlog is foreseen for end of 2017. In parallel, the examination output rose by 19%. The search output increase and the continuous increase of the examination output confirms that the Early Certainty strategy is now being extended from Search to Examination. In January 2017 the production was 12% above the same period in 2016
At the end of 2016, compared to end 2015, the search stock had decreased by 24% and the examination stock had also started to decrease (-0.6%). The pending workload decreased from 16.9 months of work at the end of 2015 to 14.6 months of work at the end of 2016. a) Filings
After the high number of applications filed at the EPO in 2015 partially caused by the effect of the American Inventor Act implemented in 2013 at the USPTO, which led to a substantial increase of PCT applications from the US in the following years, the filing figure shows a healthy development in 2016. So far, 159 228 European patent applications (European direct applications filed in 2016 and PCT applications entering the European regional phase in 2016) were recorded. This represents a temporary 0.5% decrease over the corresponding figure of 2015. It is expected that a total of 159 350 applications will be filed in 2016 which means a consolidation of the high figure of 2015.
Provisionally, the number of EP patent filings including international PCT filings amounted to 296 811 , 8.2% above the corresponding figure for 2015, mainly driven by Chinese applicants.
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EPO Applications Budget 160 022 155 200 152 703 148 027 150 000
125 000
100 000 Situation at 31-01-17 159 228 75 000 -0.5%
50 000
25 000
0 2013 2014 2015 2016
In 2016, the Office received 222 819 search requests (+0.6%) as well as 143 737 requests for European examination (-1.5%). This represents a slight decrease of 0.3% in the workload compared to the same period of 2015. Provisionally, in 2016, the share of the EPO as ISA was 34.3% (36.5% for the whole of 2015). b) Efficiency
In the framework of the Quality/Efficiency strategy, it is the goal of the Office to keep its overall staff complement constant while increasing its production in ways sufficient to manage the workload.
The figure below outlines the success of this strategy whereby the number of Full Time Equivalent employees has decreased while the number of Products produced by each FTE is increasing, a clear marker of the improved efficiency of the office.
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Paid man years Products per FTE (FTE) 7 000 62 61.9 6 900 60
6 800 58 56.5 6 700 56 6 600 54 6 500 6 571 52 6 400 6 526 6 472 6 455 6 436 6 429 6 401 50 6 300 49.8 49.0 48 6 200 48.4 47.7 46 6 100 46.4 6 000 44 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Paid man years, FTE SEO Products / FTE
The examiners' output reached 395 910 search, examination and opposition products, 8.5% above the 2015 figures.
DG1 has continued its "focus on core" efforts with the aim to concentrate a maximum of resources on search, examination and opposition work. This means that investments requiring examiner resources have been carefully considered, and where possible the time neutral system of "paid work packages" has been used. In 2016, this system of paid work packages represented 910 days of examiner time saved and dedicated to core production activities. This careful investment policy in terms of non-core activities, together with the continued reduction of sick leave and unpaid capacity, and optimised internal resource management, have allowed DG1 to further increase its capacity for core examination work: the actual available time per examiner -for core examination work- has increased by nearly 10% during the last 3 years. Having more available examiner capacity means a higher production per head which explains a big part of the progress made in terms of production in 2015 and 2016.
Important to realise in this context is that the time available for internal development measures and quality management has not decreased! As such, we have built a solid foundation for a more effective production environment whilst safeguarding our high quality standards for the future.
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c) Publications
The number of published patents in 2016 is 95 936. It represents 40% more publications than in 2015. The high level of examination production in the second half of 2016 allows to forecast at least a similar level of publications for 2017.
EPO Published Patents 95 940 +40% 100 000
90 000
Budget 80 000 69 700 68 421 66 708 64 613 70 000 60 000
50 000
40 000
30 000
20 000
10 000
0 2013 2014 2015 2016 d) Time to delivery of the search products
The successful Early Certainty for Search (ECfS) strategy results in a search stock lower than six months of work with a median timeliness achievement of 5.1 months from the date of receipt. The stock level of Euro-PCT files where EPO is not the International Search Authority is stabilising at a level of less than six months of work (5.38 months), thereby confirming the successful implementation of ECfS.
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In 2016, the EPO completed searches on average 5.1 months after the date of receipt of the files (5.5 in 2015). The notification of the intention to grant (IGRA) was issued on average within 23.3 months from the date at which the examination started (23.6 in 2015). The opposition divisions issued their decision within 24.8 months from the date at which the opposition file was received (26.0 in 2015). e) Time to publication of the patent
Early certainty aims at defining the time to grant per procedure, taking into account the specificities of each procedure when measuring from the priority date. This type of measurement allows for measurements where part of the procedure is being done by other patent offices (e.g. for Euro-PCT where EPO is not the International Search Authority). It furthermore avoids a bias of the timeliness measurements due to a mere change in the product mix.
Following this rationale, the median times from date of priority to the despatch of the intention to grant are as follows (December 2016 values, objectives in parentheses):
Euro Direct 53.1 months (36 months)
Euro PCT where EPO is the Search Authority 65.8 months (49 months)
Euro PCT where EPO is not the Search Authority 76.9 months (61 months)
Divisionals (from date of receipt) 33.6 months (24 months)
In December 2015, these durations were:
Euro Direct 53.9 months (36 months)
Euro PCT where EPO is the Search Authority 64.2 months (49 months)
Euro PCT where EPO is not the Search Authority 81.2 months (61 months)
Divisionals (from date of receipt) 32.7 months (24 months)
Positive trends are visible for Euro PCT files where the EPO is not the International Search Authority and for Euro-Direct files.
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The time elapsed is measured from the date of entry into the European grant procedure up until the date of publication of the patent: for the European direct application this is the date of receipt, and the Euro-PCT application, the date of entry into the regional phase. It measures the duration of the European grant procedure completed during each reporting period.
Time to publication of the patent in months 46.3 44.6 44.2 43.3 42.7
36
24
12
0 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
The increase in the time to publication reflects the fact that as from 2015 the EPO started dealing with older files in the examination stock. With the progressive stock reduction, it is expected to see again a timeliness reduction once the oldest files will have been dealt with.
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General EPO Statistics 03 February 2017
Difference 2015 2016 2016/2015 in %
1 Total European patent applications - December 159 952 159 228 -0,5%
2a Direct European applications - December 61 724 64 693 4,8%
2b PCT applications entering the regional phase - December 98 228 94 535 -3,8%
3 Searches carried out (EPO level) - December 245 737 253 944 3,3%
- of which European + supplementary + other 160 827 169 879 5,6% - of which International PCT searches carried out 84 910 84 065 -1,0%
4 European examinations carried out (EPO level) - December 121 242 153 881 26,9%
5 International preliminary examinations carried out (EPO level) - Decemb 9 258 9 135 -1,3%
6 Oppositions (EPO level) - December 2 190 2 651 21,1%
7 Total Examiner Products DG 1 - December 364 739 395 910 8,5%
8 SEO Time (Search, Examination, Opposition in '000 days) - December 719,3 745,3 3,6%
9 Technical appeals cases settled - December 2 287 2 229 -2,5%
10 Patents published - December 68 421 95 940 40,2%
Pending workload search expressed in months of search production 11 7,8 6,1 -21,8% (EPO level) - December
Pending workload examination/opposition expressed in months of 12 55,9 44,0 -21,3% exa/opp production (EPO level) - December
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III. MEASURES TAKEN IN DG1 TO IMPROVE PERFORMANCE, QUALITY AND SERVICE
A. EXAMINER RECRUITMENT IN 2016
Recruitment of examiners will continue at full pace during 2017. After increasing the headcount to 4 310 examiners at the end of 2016, the Office is aiming for a new target of 4 432 examiners this year in order to achieve our production plan and support Early Certainty. The recruitment cycle for 2016 has been completed with a total of 184 new examiners and more than 90 offers to start in 2017.
B. "ESPRIT DE SERVICE" a) "Esprit de service" | "VICO for Oral Proceedings"
Since 1998 oral proceedings by video conference are legally accepted by the EPO. Since the introduction of a new technical solution in May 2012 this service is used more and more. For the period February 2014 – January 2015, the Office held 806 oral proceedings scheduled via ViCo. For the period February 2015 – January 2016, 1 272 were scheduled via ViCo. This means an increase of +57.8%.
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Number of O.P. via vico 1400 1219 1200
1000
790 800 677 640 600 553 409 400 266
200 116 149 75 112 4 3 13 19 0 1999 2000 2001 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
All future vicos already scheduled 1998: The EPO legally May 2012: Introduction of a new in current year accepts O.P. via vico technical solution for vicos are included b) "Esprit de service" | Customer relationship Management (CRM)
In line with the service-orientation of the Office, First-Line Customer Service for DG1 is operational since November 2012 for all examiners and CRM tickets are created in order that incoming customer calls, emails and online enquiries are registered. The number of CRM tickets handled by DG1 in 2016 was in the range of 230 to 330 per month. The improvements to ticket-handling in cases of examiner absences have been implemented and work well. Progress is being made in finding a workflow to deal with situations where an examiner, upon returning an enquirer's call, has difficulty in contacting him or her which makes it impossible to deal with the enquiry in a satisfactory manner until he or she is available again.
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c) "Esprit de service" | Praktika Extern 2016"
The Praktika Extern program, which began in 2009, continues to be a successful way of interaction between examiners, patent attorneys and applicants. It allows to better understand the issues and challenges of a different professional environment dealing with intellectual property as well as to receive direct general feedback regarding the quality and procedural efficiency delivered by the European Patent Office. The program also serves to raise awareness about the latest products and service oriented developments the EPO is offering, such as PCT Direct and Early Certainty as well as recent procedural changes. All of this being in line with our continuous strategy of delivering the best service and highest quality in the world of intellectual property.
Last year a total of 42 examiners were selected and were placed in firms for a time span of 2-3 weeks. The praktika extern took place between the months of June through to November. The number of participating firms continue to increase each year and there are now a total of 138 firms throughout Europe listed in the database.
An information package was given to all examiners who took part in the program to present to the attorney firms in order to raise the awareness of the latest products and developments offered by the EPO such as i) Early Certainty Introduction and Background ii) Presentation on Early Certainty from Search and iii) The expansion of Early Certainty to Examination and Opposition. The firms found these initiatives very interesting as many of their clients value an early estimation of the strength of their patent applications.
Feedback is requested from all participating firms and positive reactions have been received from all attorneys praising the professionalism and technical knowledge of the examiners they have received into their firms so far. Many attorney's offices and companies which have participated in this year's program (and previous years) have found the experience to be effective and beneficial to their firms by means of improved communication/collaboration between attorneys and EPO examiners as well as understanding the working processes and search strategies of examiners. Many of these participating firms have expressed their wish that the program continues in 2017 and they look forward to receiving an examiner.
Preparations for the Praktika Extern 2017 are well underway.
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d) "Esprit de service" | 1LCS
Increasing user experiences and understanding the business logic of users continues to be fundamental for offering high level EPO services with key dimensions of reliability, accuracy and timeliness. A single and transparent point- of-contact has been established to enable through the CRM-tool the handling of tickets in an efficient workflow. Like this it is ensured that customer queries are answered in a timely and satisfactory manner. Over 63.700 user enquiries have been coordinated by Customer Desk to the various operational units, particularly to examiners and formalities officers. The internal defined Quality objective of 90% within a specific time limit has been almost achieved.
Key Account Management has been successfully working to establish and maintain relations with EPO users. Next to the well-attended User Day events, also interactive online services workshops have been offered reaching out to more than 1 000 participants. All these activities have supported users to file online, to learn about new e-tools and to get answers to their questions on specific files in the Patent Grant process.
C. CAREER PATH AND REORGANISATION a) Examiner Career: Team Managers and Senior Expert Examiners
Managing long term careers whilst keeping up motivation and performance is one of the challenges the EPO is facing. Within the framework of the HR Roadmap and more notably within the Future Career System, the EPO has defined future career paths, in particular for examiners, such as the managerial career and the technical expert career. After extensive preparation and testing, the EPO is now implementing continuously these new career opportunities, i.e. the Team Manager and the Senior Expert Examiner positions.
The introduction of the Team Manager in DG1 is an essential element of the managerial career track for examiners, which later might lead to a managerial position at director level and beyond. The Team Manager structure supports the strategy of the Office through harmonization of working methods, sharing best practice, improved timeliness, optimized performance management and financial savings through the creation of larger directorates. In addition, the Team Manager structure provides a good basis for early identification and development of future managers within the Office.
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The Team Managers are positioned as line managers and in this role they contribute to the directorate's goals by optimizing the achievement with regards to qualitative and quantitative results of the teams and their individual members. In addition, they also perform examiner core tasks. A team comprises ca 12-15 examiners. Parallel to this managerial career path, the EPO offers a new technical expert career path for examiners who see their strength and focus in patent related and technical matters within DG1. Also here a gradual roll-out is foreseen during the next years in order to get to ca 150 senior expert positions in DG1. The Senior Expert examiner will contribute to the business goals through individual high level of performance and through exceptional contribution to the results of the directorate. The Senior Expert maintains and influences the EPO's core process of patent granting and post-granting by pro-active knowledge transfer and advice, thereby fostering efficient, high-quality examination procedures whilst contributing to the EPO at large in strategic, political and implementation processes related to these tasks internally and externally. The Senior Expert provides active support to the management line and is an exemplary reference for examiners.
DG1 implements the new organizational structure gradually. This includes a shift to larger directorates with ca 60-80 examiners. The ultimate goal is to have ca 65- 70 Directors, ca 300 Team Managers and ca 150 Senior Experts in DG1 within the next few years. On 1.1.2017, after 18 months of implementation, DG1 counts already with 180 Team Managers and 80 Senior Experts. These figures show that the implementation is moving ahead in a structured way; it is even faster than originally predicted. The change is accompanied by appropriate training and development measures at all levels. This includes an early orientation centre in order to assist examiners in the timely orientation of their professional development. Directors are being prepared for their role as manager of managers by a dedicated training programme. The new organizational structure will ensure that DG1 meets its strategic goals today and in the future. b) Performance Management
The new performance management system was introduced Office wide on January 2015 and since then line management has been supported by appropriate training and workshops in order to ensure a consistent and harmonised approach.
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In order to ensure a harmonised performance assessment of examiners in DG1, a specific guidance document has been issued, setting out expectations per grade relating to performance and competencies alike. As a first step of the performance management cycle, objectives have been set for each examiner in line with the expectations per grade. As a general rule, performance expectations increase with growing experience. In addition to quantitative objectives like the number of searches, examinations etc., also individual quality objectives have been defined for the examiners in DG1. As a general rule, the objectives are linked to and support the quality/efficiency strategy of the office.
Between May and July 2015, line managers held formal intermediate review meetings with their staff. The goal of these meetings is to make sure that the level of achievement of objectives is in line with the expectations and to take corrective measures where necessary. The review meetings have also been used to check whether the demonstrated level of competencies is in line with the requirements for the function and grade. This is an important step in order to fully introduce the newly developed competency framework.
At the beginning of 2016 the first performance management cycle under the new career was closed with the formal appraisal and reporting exercise according to the new standards. The new performance management system is fully aligned with the new career system and supports the move from a seniority based system to a system based on performance and merits. In 2016, the complete performance management cycle including objective setting and intermediate review has been re-run. At each level, consolidation and further gaining of best practice took place. In addition, the link to the reward exercise has been fully implemented. c) DG1 Quality Action Plan
The challenging quality objectives and actions in the associated DG1 Quality Action Plan have been addressed with rigorous efforts to improve timeliness, respond to the findings of internal quality reports and further develop the Quality Management System.
The success in implementing DG1 quality actions is reflected in the numbers of the KPIs. Improvement in timely delivery of products, not only in delivering PCT applications together with the search report and written opinion in time for A1 publication, but also in reduction of delays relating to PACE requests and where enquiries have been filed, have been extremely successful. Continued emphasis has also been placed on maximising coverage of Asian documentation during search and an increased focus is being provided on timely examination which have resulted in the higher overall level of user satisfaction.
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Individual Quality Objectives have been set for the third time in 2017. An evaluation of the effectiveness of the Individual Quality Objectives took place in 2016; the results of this evaluation have enabled DG1 to refine the Individual Quality Objectives in 2017 to focus on achievable and measurable targets.
CASE - Conformity Assurance for Search & Examination
The introduction of CASE has led to increased consultation within the Examining Division before issuing a search or sending grant documents which is reflected in an increase in the quality of granted applications. The CASE procedure has been streamlined in 2016 and continues to grow in familiarity among examiners.
The CASE data begins to offer insight into product quality that supports discussion and decisions on improvement actions at DG1, JC and Directorate levels. An evaluation of the root cause of nonconformities identified by DQA during the product audit on grant has been undertaken. The resulting analysis is being used to support the chairpersons in identifying nonconformities during the CASE checks as well as to review the training material for both the chairpersons in reviewing the grant and 1st examiners in preparing the documents for grant.
Classification Quality Audit 2016
The result of the Classification Quality Audit (CQA) 2016 shows that DG1 has met its target for classification quality, with a score of 95%, a clear improvement over the 2015 figure (92%). The audit was performed under the supervision of Directorate Quality Audit (DQA), according to DQA audit standards and the (Internal Audit and Oversight) Charter,
The action plans implemented following the recommendations of the 2015 Audit Report evidently had a positive impact. Reports from the auditors particularly mentioned an improvement in the circulation of documents to neighbouring fields in 2016, which was one of the main issues last year.
Asian documentation
DG1 is systematically working on tools and training which improve the use of Asian documentation. The end goal is to retrieve any Asian document as easily as we might a European patent. Due to the hard work put in, we are quite close to this goal.
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Emphasis in 2016 was on ensuring that examiners are able to use the new tools more effectively rendering access to Asian documentation easier. Tools and training on use of Japanese FI-Classes and F-Terms have improved access to Japanese documentation, whilst the Korean and Chinese Patent Offices have started classifying into CPC which eases access to their documents too. Training on Asian documentation, both via the standard training catalogue for examiners and via the Continuous Knowledge Transfer initiatives continues to be extended. The impact of assigning individual quality objectives on Asian Documentation to examiners is also positively influencing the EPO's ability to retrieve relevant Asian prior art.
Key focus areas for Continuous Knowledge Transfer with regards to Asian documentation are:
a) a drive to encourage the use of human assisted machine translations, and
b) using the new tools for retrieving Japanese F/FI-Terms.
An advanced course was designed for coaches and senior experts.
Work is being done by the Asian Patent Expert Group (APEG) in combination with PDQM to drill down Asian usage to directorate level with specific and distinct plans put in place per technical area.
Due to these initiatives, examiners have an increased awareness of the importance of Asian documentation and the consequent consultation of Asian full text documents keeps increasing.
In more detail, this means that 47% of all EPO search reports cite at least one document with an Asian priority, whilst 25% (over 200.000) of all patent citations originate in Asia (an increase from 21% 3 years ago). The graphs below show a constant increase of the citations having an Asian priority (the time delay of the data is due to the fact that it is based on published applications).
Finally, the results of the User Satisfaction Survey continue to show significant improvement on Asian documentation over the corresponding past surveys.
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Citation with JP, CN and KR priority 160.000
140.000
120.000
100.000 Cited KR Priority Title 80.000 Cited JP Priority Axis 60.000 Cited CN Priority
40.000
20.000
‐ 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
30.000 Citations with CN and KR Priority
25.000
20.000
15.000
10.000
5.000 Cited KR Priority
0 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
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Procedural Data Visualisation
The Procedural Data Visualisation tool was released to examiners in December 2016. The tool provides the examiners with an overview of their and their colleagues' performance for ten specific aspects of search and examination and will support examiners and managers in enhancing the consistency of products delivered by DG1.
DG1 Technical Training Portal
The DG 1 Technical Training Portal providing examiners with direct access to all formal patent-related training material as well as to a selection of the best peer-to-peer content was released in July 2016. The content is structured by topic, searchable by keywords and is further enriched with direct links to the pertinent legal background and to related classroom & e-Learning courses. By providing easy access to the relevant examiner-related training material in a single intranet site, the training portal supports DG 1 in its endeavours to further improve the quality of its work and the service provided to its users.
Quality Objectives and defined Key Performance Indicators have been continuously followed up in Patent Administration. Dedicated action plans and Quality Circles in key areas of the Patent Grant Process, such as Opposition, Withdrawals, Bibliographic Data and B Publications have supported the achievement of the defined KPIs on all Quality objectives and by doing so also the Quality of Services towards Users. d) Harmonisation activities in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) area
DG1 and DG5 have established an ICT Committee to ensure a closer cooperation between departments dealing with ICT operational issues, and to promote effective consultation, harmonisation and cross-referencing of policies and practice. In particular the Committee functions as an ICT advisory body to line management, seeks consensus and agreement on ICT matters and functions as a platform to disseminate ICT information within the Office.
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Following on from the 2014 restructuring of the ICT area in Munich, further restructuring and consolidation of ICT technical areas has taken place in 2017 in The Hague. With an increasing number of CII (Computer Implemented Inventions) and Industry 4.0 applications across all of DG 1, increased attention is also being paid to this area. As one initiative, DG1 has set up a project to investigate the potential overall impact of Industry 4.0 on operational issues. The revision of the CII content Of The Guidelines is now in its third year and has proven very successful in harmonising examiner practice. DG1-wide CII training has also been revised and expanded to ensure that all examiners possess an appropriate level of knowledge in this area.
With leadership for ICT issues now vested in one main ICT principal directorate, and with the creation of the ICT Committee, the Office is better placed to respond to the challenges of a rapidly-changing technological landscape and to project its services to industry. A high level policy for external communication on ICT issues is also being prepared together with Directorate 0.8. This more proactive stance and enhanced cooperation have already led to an improved dialogue with a number of ICT applicants, large and small. The resultant exchange of information and discussion of strategic and procedural issues has allowed DG1 to further shape its activities and services to the needs of the ICT industry, thereby increasing its attractiveness as a PCT Authority. To further promote its services in the USA, in September 2016 the EPO held a one-day seminar in New York on patenting ICT technology, in conjunction with the IPO Annual Meeting. The EPO presented its ICT and Industry 4.0 initiatives at the EPO patent information conference in Madrid in November 2016. In December 2016 the 4th Indo-European Conference on Patents and ICT was held in Munich.
D. PROCEDURES a) Early Certainty from Search (ECFS)
On 1.7.2014 Early Certainty from Search was implemented. The aim of this new scheme is to improve legal certainty on pending patent applications by organising the workflow at examiner level in order to deliver, as early as possible in the patent grant process, the information required by the industry to assess the risks and opportunities entailed in pending applications.
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In a nutshell, Early Certainty from Search outlines are:
Issue all searches with opinion on time: this ensures that no blind spots are created in the European IP landscape. A comprehensive preliminary opinion on the patentability of applications searched by EPO is provided quickly to the applicant and the public. EPO goal is to issue European search reports and search opinion within 6 months after reception from the applicants of the application documents to be used for the search. This will guarantee issuance of the search report well before expiry of the priority year for first filings, on time for publication with the application at 18 months and 6 months after entry into the regional phase or applicant's reply to the communication under Rule 161 EPC when EPO was not the International Searching Authority.
Finish already started examination files before starting new cases: by setting a higher focus on completing already started examinations rather than on issuing first examination actions, EPO ensures that pendency inherent to a complex examination procedure such as the one enshrined in the EPC, is better controlled which will result in faster and more efficient examination.
Fast track examination for third parties: until July 2014 only applicants could benefit of procedural acceleration. Now third parties can also request accelerated examination by filing non anonymous and substantiated observations under Article 115 EPC.
Fast track examination for applications for which a positive reply to a search opinion has been issued as they have a very high potential to be direct grants.
The feedback received from the user community is overwhelmingly positive. The effect of the Early Certainty from Search strategy on EPO timeliness is already visible as evidenced by the timeliness quality indicators published now on a quarterly basis on the EPO website. These indicators are based on twelve months rolling data which has a slowing effect on the actual improvement rate in transition period. At each meeting with users circles from all continents, EPO efforts for improving timeliness and overall pendency are praised and are considered very useful for supporting legal certainty and strengthening the European patent system.
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The results of the new scheme are visible, and the efforts to reduce the delays, so called backlog, in dealing with these top priority types of files mentioned above resulted in a decrease from roughly 15 000 at the start of 2016 to 5 413 files at the end of 2016.
Furthermore, an improvement in timely delivery of International Search Reports has been achieved by DG1: from 85.7% at the start of the year to 90.4% at the end of December 2016. We are approaching the limit of what DG1 can deliver in time (91%), considering that some delays are actually due to applicants' behaviour, e.g. late payment of fees in case of non-unity (9% of the cases). Nevertheless, these improvements have led to a timely publication of the application together with the International Search Report in 94.9% of the cases.
Also very important for our applicants is the improved timeliness on accelerated examinations whereby the backlog of late files decreased from 2 182 at the start of the year to 545 files at the end of December.
Applications with already overdue searches on 1st July 2014 (EP second filings and Euro-PCT applications for which a supplementary European search report must be issued) were parked in a specific priority group. The goal is to treat them until the end of 2017. This backlog amounted to 73 000 files in 2014, and was around 22 200 at the end of December. b) Extension of Early Certainty (Examination and Opposition)
Now that ECfS has brought the expected results in terms of search timeliness, the EPO is ready to extend this concept of early certainty to the whole patent granting process.
The Intergovernmental conference of member states of the European Patent Organisation on the reform of the patent system, which took place in Paris on 24-25 June 1999 (EPO OJ 8-9/1999, p. 547-548), considered that the conditions of international competition require patents to be granted, on average, within three years. This principle, referred to as "Paris Criteria", would bring early legal certainty to the users of the European patent system, thereby matching the economic interests of all users of the European patent system.
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Based on the careful assessment of the estimated workload, workforce and legal requirements set forth in the European Patent Convention, the EPO aims to achieve compliance with the following timeliness objectives by the end of 2020:
Prior art searches with written opinion on patentability concluded within 6 months after receipt of the file by the search division (already the case under ECfS).
Grants concluded on average within 12 months after the start of substantive examination (December 2016: 23.3 months, improving gradually).
Standard opposition cases concluded within 15 months after the start of the opposition procedure on expiry of the 9-month opposition period (December 2016: 24.8 months, improving rapidly).
In order to do so, measures will be taken along the following four lines:
(i) Further streamlining of procedures
To achieve the timeliness objectives, the Office will continue to pursue a streamlining of practices and procedures with regard to both internal handling/processing and the procedural interaction with applicants.
The Office has reviewed the workflow of the opposition procedure in order to reduce the time needed to reach a decision in an opposition to 15 months for normal cases and this without any major legal changes, i.e. no Rule changes are foreseen. Applicants have been informed via the Official Journal and the new opposition workflow is being applied since 1.7. 2016. The new workflow simplifies the procedure and thereby reduces the possibilities of errors for all parties involved.
Under the umbrella of the "Simplification of procedures" initiative the scrutiny of a number of specific further streamlining measures is well under way.
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(ii) More effective communication with applicants
The EPO also promotes existing possibilities for more direct ways of interaction between examiners/formalities officers and applicants. Telephone conversations will be promoted, while ensuring that the content is reflected in the public part of the file in the form of minutes. Minutes of a telephone conversation can be issued as a first examination action under Article 94(3) EPC where appropriate. Examiners have been encouraged to make positive statements in communications that identify patentable subject matter and to make suggestions for grant. These measures aim to further increase the dialogue between examiners and applicants and thereby guide applications to grant in an efficient manner.
(iii) Adapting time limits to the new process
The shift towards more direct and interactive as well as electronic communication (i.e. electronic notification and electronic filing) will allow a review of administrative time buffers. The EPO will first increase its speed in issuing communications through meeting shortened internal time limits. Once this faster speed has been achieved, it will trigger a discussion on aligning certain time limits such as those under Rule 132(2) EPC with the shortened internal time limits. In particular the extension up to six months and its conditions will be scrutinised. Discussion will also be triggered on the conditions for use of further processing (Rule 135(1) EPC).
These measures are expected to reduce pendency by speeding up the exchange between the EPO and applicants.
Finally, the Office considers rationalising time limits related to the entry into the European phase, thereby strengthening the PCT procedure. Possible measures aim at maintaining the starting point of the examination at the EPO but adjusting the preceding time limits.
(iv) More information and options for applicants
Applicants are being provided with more information and options for deciding about the further prosecution of their application before and during the examination phase.
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c) PCT Direct
PCT-Direct links second filing PCT applications to first filings searched at EPO. This supports applicants moving faster to a possible positive PCT written opinion. Essentially, the applicant files a letter which explains any rebuttal of objections raised in the earlier first filing application and/or indicates any amendments made to overcome objections raised regarding that application. Examiners establish ISR and WOISA on the basis of the letter of reply to the earlier search opinion and do not make any reference to the earlier first filing. The procedure for PCT Direct is currently under revision to increase both transparency and user friendliness, by ensuring the examiner explicitly acknowledges the applicant's letter and directly addresses the arguments and comments raised therein. d) Guidelines for Examination at the European Patent Office
The annual revision of the EP Guidelines for examination and the PCT-EPO Guidelines has been completed. The final versions of these updated documents entered into force on 1.11.2016 as the "November 2016" edition. The revision cycle 2017 has already begun with the first proposals for change having been discussed with the users in the SACEPO WP Guidelines meeting in November 2016. In particular, it is being assessed how to reduce the number of forms needed to enter early either PCT Chapter II or the regional phase in front of the EPO. Other policy being reviewed is how to address the applicant's letter in PCT Direct. e) Amended Rules 51 and 162 EPC as of 01.01.2017
Amended Rules 51 and 162 EPC have entered into force. These amended Rules seek to clarify the EPO's standing practice regarding the date of taking effect of the deemed withdrawal in case of non-payment of a renewal fees and the legal basis for claims fees due for Euro-PCT applications respectively.
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E. CLASSIFICATION a) Training activities for the Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC)
A CPC annual event for the US industry took place on 19.9.2016 at the USPTO. These events bring valuable feedback to the EPO and USPTO on the CPC system, on how it is being used, on how to improve it further, and on the status of the users of the patent system regarding their implementation of the CPC.
In 2016 (September and November) 12 JPO examiners visited the EPO. They were trained in CPC and discussed the classification practices in their areas as well as the incorporation of the CPC in JPO's FI/F-term system.
IP Australia (IPAU) has received general (not field-specific) CPC training on its premises for all its examiners. According to the agreed CPC pilot, IPAU is currently classifying PCT files in CPC. The quality of IPAU's classification is compared with EPO's quality and feedback provided to IPAU. An evaluation report on the pilot will be made available in spring 2017, after which IPAU will decide whether it wishes to adopt the CPC as its internal classification scheme.
Following a further request of SIPO, in 2016 SIPO was trained in 33 additional technical fields with high importance. The first batch of trainees was trained in June 2016 at the EPO in Munich. The second batch was trained in October 2016 in The Hague. During the training of the second batch also a group of KIPO examiners joined the training. Combining the field-specific training for two offices was resource efficient and enabled harmonisation of classification practices.
A first batch of 8 examiners from IMPI Mexico received field-specific training at the EPO in The Hague from 24 October to 4 November 2016.
In 2016, several sessions of general training related to CPC and the Classification schemes in general have been provided to National Offices and the industry by making use of webinars.
These training efforts demand an investment from the EPO and measures are being taken to optimise the effectiveness of such efforts while limiting examiner involvement, e.g. by combining field-specific training for several offices.
A training plan for 2017 has been set up, with a first combined session planned for SIPO and KIPO in April/May 2017.
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b) Quality measures in the CPC
Quality measures are put in place to make sure that Offices use the CPC in the same way. Field-specific feedback is provided to the Offices following training sessions. Furthermore, the classifications provided by Offices are automatically compared with those given by EPO examiners. The resulting analysis is shared with each Office separately. c) The benefits of the CPC for the EPO
One of the major objectives of the creation of the CPC was to get other Offices to classify their document collections into the CPC and therewith make those collections better accessible to EPO examiners and the general public.
This has been achieved by the adoption of the CPC by an increasing number of Intellectual Property Organisations:
16 EPO Member States National Offices (AT, CH, CZ, DK, EE, ES, FI, GB, GR, HU, NL, NO, PL, PT, SE, TR), half of which are classifying in the CPC and delivering CPC data to the EPO (AT, ES, FI, GB, GR, SE);
7 Non-Member States Organisations (BR, CN, EAPO, IL, KR, MX and RU), five of which are already classifying in the CPC and delivering CPC data to the EPO (BR, CN, KR, MX and RU);
SIPO started delivering CPC data in July 2015 and has so far already provided classification data for 358 925 publications1*. SIPO is now delivering classifications for about 20 000 documents per month.
KIPO started delivering CPC data in August 2015 and has so far already provided classifications for about 492 822 publications*. KIPO will have classified about 1.5 million of ten years of back-file documents in the CPC by the end of 2018. In January 2016, KIPO started classifying all its front-file applications in CPC.
Source: EPODOC, as of 18 January 2017
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INPI Brazil has already started publishing CPC symbols on its patent documents since the beginning of December 2014. It is also delivering CPC data to the EPO on a continuous basis (8 040 publications to date*).
Rospatent has started classifying its documents into CPC as of January 2016. It has started delivering CPC data to the EPO since May 2016 and has provided so far classifications for 5 748 publications*.
At the end of 2016, IMPI Mexico started classifying its documents into CPC and delivering the corresponding data to the EPO. It has currently provided CPC classifications for 1 516 publications*.
Once the CPC data is stored in EPO's databases, it can be used for searching by EPO examiners, all Epoque Net users and the public at large via Espacenet and other EPO patent information products.
As far as the CPC with the USPTO is concerned, until now, the quality of the classification work provided by the USPTO still remains below DG1 needs and expectations, despite the actions taken in the training area.
The EPO and USPTO are working together with the aim to improve the quality of the classification work performed by the USPTO contractor. It is expected that these actions bear fruit, and some improvement of the classification quality to be visible in 2017.
2016 also saw the launch of two major bilateral IT-related CPC projects with the USPTO:
the CPC Collaborative Environment project (CPC-CE) aimed at facilitating the interaction and communication between examiners of the various CPC National Offices, in particular in the area of CPC revisions;
the CPC International project (CPC-INTL), which will provide a new technical infrastructure for the CPC, making it possible for National Offices to deliver their CPC data to the bilateral system directly, while displaying the CPC data in the same way, be it coming from the EPO, USPTO or any other CPC National Office.
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CPC will ultimately bring an easier access to the documentation published by participating offices, increased quality of the work of the EPO and thus more legal certainty for European and Unitary Patent rights. The EPO has taken up a key leadership and support role focused on ensuring that its classification partners, and especially the USPTO, commit to achieve our quality and timeliness classification standards. This is the best way forward to ensure that CPC is also beneficial to the EPO from the operational point of view.
IV. IT AND AUTOMATION PROJECTS
A. ITR – DELIVERIES FOR EXAMINERS
In 2016, significant progress was made in the area of tools for examiners, with over 50 improvements being implemented, almost 20 of which were significant steps towards the IT roadmap:
On the Patent Grant Progam (PGP), EPO focus has been primarily the first release of eDossier for Search which has been delivered in cellule de suivi in December 2016. eDossier has successfully been used on real files to electronically perform stock management functions. Specifically, this involves electronic workflows for stock management covering tasks such as technical acceptance, file allocation and re-allocation, and file re-distribution. A second release at the end of February/early March is bringing further stock management functionality as well as efficiency in handling dossiers and facilitating batch allocation. With this, the initial part of a single, environment for examiners and formalities officers has been put in place, allowing work to be mainly carried out on screen, without need for systematically printing and maintaining paper files. eDossier for Search will then be completed by further releases in April and July, providing several usability improvements. With full functionality in place, the plan is to deploy the tool gradually across DG1.
With solid progress being made on eDossier for Search, work has started on eDossier for Examination, extending the electronic workflow to the examination process and a rebuild of CASE (Conformity Assurance for Search and Examination). Early testing is planned for the end of 2017 and the approach will again be one of step-by-step delivery of functionality.
On the Knowledge Management and Search Program, the EPO has continued to develop ANSERA, a modern and effective search tool to complement other search tools such as EPOQUE and SearchNPL.
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The version 1.6 rolled-out to the examiners does include the integration of WPI database, improved flexibility of searching with CPC, IPC and Japanese classification, improved load balancing and search sessions stability of the search requests. Large efforts as well have been made to improve the performance of long-running multi-term queries;
The future here is a fully collaborative environment and first steps have been taken enabling annotations to be made by examiners for sharing and further developing with their peers.
The Pre-search tool (tool part of SEA) has also been improved allowing greater user interaction. The results of Pre-search provide examiners with a head-start by identifying relevant documents as a starting point for their intellectual input (It automatically tries to find citations for a dossier). The purpose of this release was to increase the success rate for this tool, in particular the number of dossiers where it finds a citation of type XYIE. The probability of finding documents ready to be cited is 60% in the first 60 documents exposed to the examiners. These documents are presented to the examiners and they could be directly cited or could provide useful information, e.g. classes, keywords, applicant/inventor, etc. for continuing the search.
B. ITR – OTHER DELIVERIES
The execution of the CGI Exit plan has been successful. In particular, the current CMS Filing is fully managed by EPO since end of 2016.
The new system integrator is now fully operational and is delivering the Patent Grant Process projects.
In January 2017 CMS Filing 1.13 has been deployed to production. It includes developments for UNIP implementation (which are left disabled for the time being) but as well important legal changes (Rule 82,PACE,Visegrad and Ukraine as new IPEA/ISA/SISA, Italy priority format, New format of India National priority, etc.).
For the New Account Management (NACM), the analysis of existing customer data has been completed. A tender for the acquisition of a master data management (MDM) platform has been published.
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As mentioned in the December report, work has started on delivering the capabilities to accept XML filings, potentially with significant benefits for true end- to end electronic dossiers without the need for the EPO to carry the burden of expensive high quality file conversions. As well as technical changes, legal, financial and communication aspects are being looked at carefully as it is clear that a detailed consultation process will be needed to ensure backing from our users. This process has been started in close collaboration with the NO's and will continue during 2017.
C. OTHER AUTOMATION DELIVERIES a) Patent Grant Program
Several deliveries and activities under the umbrella of the PGP program have taken place in order to ensure regular legal or technical evolutions of the systems:
PCT Paperless: electronic search copy exchange with PCT RO's through WIPO for IB itself, IT, NO, JP, FI, ES, IL
eDrex 1.9 and 2.0 implementation; eDrex is now used for 90% of patent applications grants.
ePCT phase 2 integration with EPO's online filing
File Wrapper Access release (security updates and WIPO Case)
Implementation of Stay of Proceedings to put specific cases on-hold
Implementation of fee increases 2016 in several services
Procedure simplification – email notification before oral proceedings
Official Journal for PACE
Simplification of PCT Non-Unity Protest Procedure
Avoiding refunds in case of no real doublures
Ensured continuation of Fax Service
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This has as well included the adaptation of tools in support of EPO strategies such as Early Certainty and the introduction of Team Managers, and to accommodate legal changes. Examples of this are:
DG1 management tools such as MUSE and the Landing Page, where performance management and management information systems have been adapted to include the role of Team Managers and to provide appropriate access and information.
Support of Early Certainty demands some changes to IT systems, such as adaptations to support the policy of promoting withdrawals, and modifications to management information systems.
Legal changes also require automation modifications to be carried out. These include changes to Rule 82(2) for hand-written amendments submitted during an Oral Proceeding in Opposition, and new actions for "Stayed Proceedings" ensuring the proper workflow when a file has been referred to the Enlarged Board of Appeal and a decision is pending. b) Knowledge Management and Search Program
Outside of the IT Roadmap, several projects and activities have taken place in 2016 with the objectives to improve the content and the quality of the different databases used by the search tools:
The quality of search has been improved in terms of the completeness of our collections:
First with the Quality at Source project which has been continued with 12 supplementary Offices (January 2016: CH, CZ, NL, FI, IE, AL and in July 2016: BG, RO, DK, GR, PL, RS) while the corrections and gaps filling was ongoing with 10 other Offices (AT, CH, CZ, EE, ES, GR, HR, IE, LT, PT, RO).
Complemented by the result of the Bulk Translation project (using Patent Translate) it has allow to achieve the delivery to EPOQUE and ANSERA of more than 11 million full text publications (out of which 6.5 million were translated – 6.1 million being translated from Chinese, Japanese or Korean.).
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It is interesting to note that out of those translated documents 2.3 million (1.9 million from Asiatic languages) have been translated using the newly developed Bulk Translation tool.
Recently, the EPOQUE full-text databases reached 100 000 000 documents in coverage. With some exceptions and limitations, these documents are available to EPO examiners, to examiners from national offices using EPOQUENet and to the general public via Espacenet.
The Espacenet project had replaced the current National Espacenet Interfaces (level 1) located at Member States with New National Espacenet Interfaces (level 2) located at the EPO and delivers a New EPO Espacenet Interface that is providing a friendlier and more intuitive user experience and new functionalities. The users of the New Espacenet National Interface, while searching in their national language, enjoy all other services provided by the EPO Espacenet, i.e. family availability, citations, translations, etc. which were not available in L1. 26 MS have implemented the New Espacenet National Interfaces in 2016, some of them had no National Espacenet service before. c) Corporate Area
In the area of Patent Administration the systematic and structured support of the various management levels by Business Intelligence – similar to DG1 – has started. Streamlined budget and cost management process have continued to improve with the delivery to the Central Procurement Roadmap, specifically SAP-standard based Single Point of Entry for purchase requests and related approval workflows as well as further automation of fund reservations.
Overall Web-Platform consolidation is on-going including the renewal of the Intranet and EPOXY.
The further evolution of automation related to the HR reform was delivered, enabling service improvements and continuity in Performance Management, Compensation & Benefits, New Career, Sick leave/invalidity and Pension Management. Experiences and feedback from the initial roll-out in 2015 were incorporated in these activities. Also, in the HR area, the re-organization of Health & Safety was supported with corresponding solution changes.
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Corporate Area also delivered further on the financial enablement for the introduction of the Unitary Patent, as well as for Early Certainty for Examination. For production monitoring & management, a priority monitor was delivered based on the Data Warehouse in order to facilitate the monitoring of workload, backlog and stock.
The Intranet presence underwent a design re-brush towards a more modern look & feel. d) Security and Infrastructure
In relation to the modernisation of its Infrastructure, the EPO has acquired a service called Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). It will give much more flexibility to adapt to the requests for new hardware and is moving the machines consumption from a Capex model to an Opex one.The complete replacement of the Local Area Networks has started first with our offices in Bruxelles, Vienna and Berlin and will continue in the coming months with the buildings in Munich. The preparatory network setup for the future BoA building has started.
In full alignment with what has been presented in the TOSC last autumn, following assessments made in 2015, significant changes have been made in the areas of Cyber Security, identity and access management, Information Security Risk Management:
An Information Risk and Vulnerability Management process has been put in place in order to shorten the time for remediation.
A comprehensive action plan has been put in place and is being executed allowing to fix the most critical vulnerabilities in the infrastructure
D. OTHER DEVELOPMENTS IN AUTOMATION
A new version of new online filing (CMS) has been launched on 14.1. 2017. This version 1.13 includes several updates, comprising changes compliant with amended Rule 82 EPC. Developments have been made for Online Fee Payment, offering additional safeguards for account holders such as the introduction of validation functionality for payments included in batch debit orders.
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V. BUILDINGS AND PROCUREMENT
A. SECURITY
There is a growing need to enhance security at the EPO's premises. Based on an updated Office-wide "Physical Security Risk Assessment", a consolidated updated physical security concept has been developed with the aim of protecting EPO staff, visitors and assets. In principle, the concept consists of a stronger perimeter protection, a better building access control and the prevention of any unlawful actions by monitoring critical areas. In line with this updated physical security concept, speed lanes are now in place at all our premises in Munich, The Hague and Vienna. They provide electronic control for movement from semi-public to restricted areas. In Berlin, speed lanes will be introduced as part of the ongoing renovation.
Furthermore, in the Isar building and at The Hague, new security equipment (X-ray scanners and metal detectors) has been installed to improve access control at the various entrances to the EPO buildings there. The devices are used to scan visitors without permanent badges.
B. NEW MAIN THE HAGUE
The design phase of this building project is completed and all efforts are now being concentrated on the construction side. The steel construction of the Office building reached floor 19 in December 2016. The thermal facade and second skin facade follow upwards with a gap of 6 floors. The new office building is markedly visible from the Highway. However, the delivery of the project is delayed by a few months due to disputes between New Main b.v. and the subcontractor for the steel construction. A lot of technical installations like air handling units, chillers, transformers, channels, have already been installed inside the building. Fine finishing in the interior of the building began in October 2016 .
In December 2016 the steel construction of the New Hinge, which will house the rooms for oral proceedings, started with another subcontractor.
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C. OTHER BUILDING PROJECTS
The implementation of the EPO's contract strategy is on-going. In particular, several facility management contracts (for cleaning, waste disposal, sanitation, ice-gritting, etc.) were bundled. This is a further example of increasing efficiency whilst maintaining a high quality service despite a decrease in the staffing.
Regarding specific on-going projects:
In Munich, the cantilevered glass roofing over the Isar building entrances is being replaced, which serves as the basis for further construction measures which might be necessary for accommodating security equipment. In line with the EPO's environmental programme (EMAS), the Office has successfully started testing a building-control system based on the weather forecast at the PschorrHöfe in Munich.
Following the Council's approval in December, the Boards of Appeal Unit will move to its own dedicated office building in Munich/Haar. The physical separation to the administrative parts of the EPO will further add to the increased independence of the Boards of Appeal. The relocation is expected to take place during the summer 2017.
In Berlin, following some difficulties with the renovation of the building in Berlin, further delays are being evaluated by the German authorities. It could take some more years compared to the initial planning.
D. PROCUREMENT
During the course of 2016, the Office processed circa 400 formal procurement procedures, 1000 contracts, 3000 purchase orders, 20.000 invoices and a number of sourcing exercises. The total funds reservation consumption was circa 250 million EUR.
Secondly, Central Procurement defined two main objectives of comprehensive improvement as: "better buy" and "better operate".
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In the context of "better buy" additional resources have been allocated to the procurement team supporting the Buildings and Facility Management area, with the main focus on the procurement needs of the New Main building in The Hague, especially those related to integration between existing and new buildings. The supply of Office Furniture for the new building can be highlighted. The efforts made to approach the market actively led to high competition in the tender phase and important savings (30%) compared to the forecasted budget.
In the context of "better operate" the further roll out of the Central Procurement Automation Programme is progressing well. The launch of the single-point-of-entry portal (SPE), a SAP based requisitioning tool, shall be completed office-wide by the end of Q1 2017. Furthermore, the Procurement Guide for the harmonisation of all procurement activities has been rolled out.
VI. QUALITY
An exhaustive dedicated yearly report on Quality matters will be provided to the Administrative Council as from 2017 onwards. The following elements summarizes some of the main 2016 events.
A. QUALITY MANAGEMENT STRATEGY AND INDICATORS
The project for transitioning the QMS to the new version of the ISO 9001 standard, in order to ensure recertification in September 2017, has now entered its final execution phase. The operational process documents have been revised, approved and published. The Internal QMS audit program has been adapted to the new version of the standard and will allow us to check readiness of the QMS. The program has been approved and published. Communication and training about the changes to the QMS is on-going in all operational areas. An external audit on the EPO's readiness for including UPP in its QMS was successfully passed in September 2016.
In December, the Annual Quality Review took place. The quality objectives for 2016 once again showed positive results. In order to move the office closer to a process model, additional office wide indicators reflecting the Early Certainty endeavour have been introduced.
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B. USER CONSULTATIONS AND SURVEYS
User feedback is a core element of our ISO 9001 certified Quality Management System. It is one of several key elements that supports informed decision making and thus contributes to the Office's efforts to fulfil its mission.
Last year we have taken several new initiatives in this direction: namely we have made a special effort to collate diverse forms of user feedback into a comprehensive "User Feedback Review". This is an extremely valuable and useful tool which helps the Office to better understand users' needs and expectations. It also helps us to identify opportunities for improvement, which is central to the EPO's goal of continual improvement.
In addition to the regular User Satisfaction Surveys, last year the Office conducted pilot surveys on DG1 Opposition work and a one-off survey among Chinese applicants in Chinese.
The first DG1 opposition work survey was conducted in 2016, with very good results showing that overall 70% our users are satisfied or highly satisfied with the opposition procedure. Respondents are particularly satisfied with the reasoning and the arguments in written decisions in Opposition and the preliminary opinion is considered very useful. In view of the streamlined opposition procedure launched on 1.7.2016, it is more important than ever to consult our users about their expectations and their requirements.
The user satisfaction survey (USS) results in 2016 about Formalities and Customer Relations services have shown again an increase of User satisfaction with the EPO services. The latest user satisfaction survey reached 87% exceeding by far the defined 80% target and it scored even higher than all previous USS results. Main focus of the survey has been the Quality of the services and the products.
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VII. HUMAN RESOURCES
A. TALENT ACQUISITION AND CAREER DEVELOPMENTS a) Examiner recruitment
Examiner recruitment is key to support the implementation of the Efficiency / Quality Strategy. In 2016, the Office received 18.987 applications which represents an increase of almost 30% compared to 2015. 70% of these applications concerned examiners positions. This was made possible thanks to a streamlined talent acquisition approach including the following elements:
DG 1/ HR joint recruitment plan to source the best scientists and engineers across our 38 member states.
Organisation of 8 examiners recruitment events in Munich and the Hague;
Continuous publication of vacancies for examiners;
Launch of regular examiner recruitment campaigns, including publication in external job boards in all members' states, and ad hoc mailing campaigns which have been launched;
Development of further talent acquisition channels, especially with a focus on the under-represented Member States;
Intensification of the EPO online presence. EPO Jobs currently has 9 035 followers on Linkedin, 13 489 on Facebook and about 1 988 on Twitter.
An ongoing sourcing of talents performed directly by Talent acquisition managers via relevant sourcing portals (i.e. LinkedIn). Online media has become one of the most important sources for talent identification and attraction.
In 2016, EPO has definitely managed to confirm its positioning as an attractive employer and to overcome the challenges presented by a highly competitive job market when it comes to source multilingual best in class engineers.
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In 2017, HR, in close cooperation with DG1, intends to organise 8 Recruitment Events with the ambition to reach the target headcount of 4 432 examiners. b) Team manager
With the introduction of the New Career System, new structures and roles have been designed in the area of patent operations (DG1) for further supporting individual as well as collective performance.
On top of their examiner function, Team Managers also provide a closer support to teams of 10-15 examiners, enhancing their performance, ensuring their motivation and well-being and fostering a better communication line. This additional managerial support constitutes another lever to preserve and develop further the Office's high quality standards.
With 96 new recruits in 2016, DG1 now counts a total number of 170 team managers. The ambition is to reach 300 team managers who will all benefit from an intensive management development programme. c) Senior Expert
As role models and guardians of the technical expertise, senior experts are key contributors in the achievement of Office-wide business goals. They ensure continuous knowledge sharing and development thanks to the constitution of an office-wide senior expert's network, while guiding and advising their colleagues.
With 24 additional recruits, DG1 has now a community of 80 senior experts who will continue to play a key role in DG1 quality matters and strategic issues such as Early Certainty. Just like the Team Managers, Senior Experts are also benefitting from training and workshops aiming at enhancing their competencies as role models.
In 2017, it is intended to recruit 30 additional senior experts.
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B. WELL-BEING, HEALTH AND SAFETY TRENDS AND OSHRA FOLLOW-UP
The EPO is committed to protecting and maintaining the health and safety of its staff, as well as promoting their general sense of well-being. The Organisation's focus in recent years was on modernising the approach to absence management and health and well-being more in general by:
increasing awareness through senior management attention and high quality statistics;
investing in training line managers;
improving the coordination between management, human resources and health and safety specialists;
changing the rules and regulations to promote working, even if only partially, over being on sick leave.
The combined effect of these measures has contributed to a remarkable reduction of the average sick leave days in the Office. In line with the general trend observed in the last 6 years, the statistics for December 2016 show that the average days for sick-leave per FTE have decreased since 2011 as follows: office wide (from 14.25 to 9.14 days) – representing a 36% decrease in sick leave for the past 6 years. Interestingly, sick leave has decreased across all DGs, all age groups, all sites, for both men and women, with the percentage of staff never sick increasing from 20% to over 30%. This achievement represents considerable savings both in direct and indirect costs and puts the EPO in line with other best practice Organisations.
To further consolidate this successful strategy, in 2016 the Office completed the Health and Safety transformation project, putting in place a newly aligned office- wide organisation of the Health and Safety (H&S) services. Integral part of this strategic approach has been to direct future actions in a more targeted way to the specific health and safety needs and risks. To this purpose, the Office launched the first comprehensive office wide Occupational Health and Safety Risk Assessment (OHSRA) during the course of 2016. The OHSRA concluded that the EPO is overall in a good and positive situation in terms of health and safety, praising the considerable investment in this area, as well as the overall low level of risk identified.
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As regards to overall wellbeing and the EPO staff scored higher than the comparison group on vast majority of the health, wellbeing and stress measures (24 out of 36 World Health Organisation categories). This indicates that the EPO staff members are resilient and generally able to cope well. It was also found that the generous working conditions (financial remuneration, high job security, work- life balance including part-time working and levels of leave) as well as social support to staff members and their families contribute to maintaining the potential for increasing the resilience of staff to psychosocial hazards.
The study recommended to investing further in developing a solid H&S framework by:
Defining a policy for H&S, outlining and balancing the roles and responsibilities in promoting safety, health and well-being of the employer and the employee;
Strengthening reporting and data analysis of psycho-social risks, as well analyse the return on investment of H&S interventions;
Developing more targeted training and coaching of line management to proactively managing health and safety in their area and play a key role in prevention and change management initiatives (including trainings on stress, supporting colleagues in distress, change management etc.);
Building on the existing support systems to staff and management (i.e. interdisciplinary Health Advisory Team meetings with line managers, wider social support to staff members and their families via Employee Assistance Program;
Stimulating the individual responsibility of staff members towards their own safety, health and well-being, by for example adopting positive user behaviours with regard to correct ergonomics.
The results and recommendations were presented to the main stakeholder groups and were discussed in detail during the Social Conference.
The input received forms the basis for the priorities in the coming year which include developing and agreeing a new Health and Safety Policy, enhancing a culture of Health and Safety at EPO through a targeted and comprehensive prevention plan and setting up a system for regular monitoring and reporting of the results.
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C. CONFLICT RESOLUTION a) Management review Requests
In line with the strategy outlined in HR Roadmap the Conflict Resolution Unit has been working on enhancing internal mechanisms of pre-litigation and promoting the amicable resolution of conflicts. The management review process contributes to the overall improvement of conflict resolution mechanisms enabling the early resolution of administrative disputes and preventing as far as possible further escalation and formal litigation (via internal appeal and/or complaint to ILOAT).
In 2016, although the total number of management review request remains high, a decrease by 15% in registrations and by 85% in requesters is to be noticed. Moreover, the review procedure has successfully filter an average of 50% of the requests, avoiding to further proceed in an internal appeal.
Another positive trend to be reported is the significant increase of the number of personal meetings. In 30% of the cases, an individual meeting took place between the requesters and the reviewers. b) Internal Appeals
In 2016 the Appeals Committee registered 155 new appeals. This is the lowest number of new appeals registered in the last ten years. In comparison to 2015 (226 registered appeals), the number of incoming appeals decreased by 31%.
In total 88 appeals were also registered in the supra category Regulations/Policies" introduced in 2015.
Despite a decrease in withdrawals, 50% less than in 2015, the following positive trends:
Significant reduction of the backlog;
Low number of newly registered appeals; and
Considerable progress in the "cut-the-tail" action.
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Over the past few years, a positive trend showing the decrease in the backlog could be noted. In 2016 this trend was continued and intensified; the backlog decreased by 24%. With the measures implemented in the Appeals Committee the reduction of the backlog to a sustainable level would have been possible. However, in two judgments from 2016 the ILOAT ruled that the Appeals Committee was not composed in accordance with the applicable rules as of 2014 (judgments no. 3694 and no. 3785). This will lead to an increase in the backlog as the Tribunal remits cases to the Office. Nonetheless, it should be borne in mind that a reduction of the backlog is possible.
The number of newly registered appeals was at a long-term low in 2016 (in 2005 the number of incoming appeals was lower).
In 2016 the "cut-the-tail" action led to a 77% decrease of the pending oldest appeals (2007-2012). The remaining appeals could not be dealt with because of, inter alia, ongoing partiality issues, objections to the composition of the Appeals Committee and suspensions upon request of the appellant. c) Complaints to ILOAT
In 2016 the EPO received 163 new complaints registered by the tribunal including 7 mass complaints covering 570 cases. Since 2013, there has been an increase of new complaints from 86 to 163 in 2016.
2013 2014 2015 2016 Number of ILOAT complaints received by EPO 86 57 110 163
d) Interpersonal conflicts resolution
A network of 10 Confidential Counsellors is supporting interpersonal conflict resolutions in its informal conflict resolution activities. The Confidential Counsellors provide advice and assistance to staff members in conflict situations via coaching or conflict facilitation. They also contribute actively to activities aiming at raising awareness about conflict prevention and resolution. In 2016, the Confidential Counsellors and the CRU dealt with 132 cases of interpersonal conflicts. This represents a decrease of 25% in comparison to 2015.
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With the introduction of Circular 341, "Policy on the prevention of harassment and the resolution of conflicts at the EPO", a significant decrease in cases was noted from 22 in 2013 to 6 in 2016. In 5 of these cases, the matter was referred to formal investigation after the Conflict Resolution Unit established that no amicable resolution of the conflict was possible.
Year 2013 2014 2015 2016 Number of cases 22 5 5 6
D. DEVELOPMENT OF THE SALARY MASS: REWARD EXERCISE 2016 AND ANNUAL ADJUSTMENT OF SALARY SCALES a) Reward exercise 2016
The second reward exercise since the implementation of the new career system took place in the second half of 2016. From a total envelope for rewards amounting to 22 million euros (cf. CA/D 1/15), managers have been able to recognise and reward merit and performance using an envelope of 9.7 million euros to grant pensionable rewards (steps and promotions) and 5 million euros for individual bonuses for calendar year 2016. Overall, 64.4% of the eligible staff members have benefitted from a step, a double step or a promotion and 20% have received an individual bonus.
In February 2017, an additional performance bonus aiming at rewarding collective and individual contribution to the Office's 2016 achievements will be paid to 70% of the staff (budgetary envelope around 8 million euros). To keep on fostering collective achievements, it has been decided to give the opportunity to specifically reward team work by allocating bonuses to team/project team members for specific collective achievements.
The new career system has further instilled values of performance, merit, professional pride and a sense of achievement, while having a significant positive effect on production and productivity and keeping the development of the salary mass under control.
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b) Adjustment of salary scales
The salary adjustment procedure approved by the Council in June 2014 was applied last year for the third time. For the first time, the newly introduced moderation clause was applied to the salary scales of a host country, namely The Netherlands.
The moderation clause limits the results of the procedure to 2% around local inflation - any excess or deficit being held over until the subsequent year. This has led to an adjustment in The Netherlands of 1.8% instead of 3.5%. The scales for Germany were also adjusted with 1.8%, Austria 1.6% and Belgium 3.2%. The application of the moderation clause shows that it is a real mechanism to smooth the development of the salary mass.
E. SOCIAL INITIATIVES a) Social dialogue / MoU with trade unions
Since January 2016, in a concrete endeavour to improve Social Dialogue, the opportunities to meet and discuss between administration and the staff representation have significantly increased. Meetings gathering all members of the Central Staff Committee and Local Staff Committees were held on a regular basis to enable discussions on different topics such as call for strike, resources for staff representatives, and sharing information.
In 2016 around 80 meetings took place with the Staff Representatives where they were either invited for consultation, discussion or negotiation depending on whether these were Statutory Body meetings, formal meetings or working groups.
Additionally, Staff Representatives have been given the possibility to interact with external experts on topics such as salary adjustment, investigation best practices as well as with the consultants of OHSRA and the Social Study.
After one year of negotiation, the recognition of the FFPE as an official Trade Union, through the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding in March 2016, was a major milestone in strengthening and fostering social dialogue at the EPO. Despite numerous invitations, SUEPO is still not willing to sign the MoU and be part of this renewed social framework, neither to resume discussion with the Office.
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b) Review exercise and follow-up discussions
In 2016, in order to evaluate the financial and social impact of five years of reform, three complementary studies were performed by external independent consultants, following an international tender:
a Financial Study by Deloitte, to analyse the financial impact of the changes, evaluate the financial health of the Office and develop long-term scenarios to ensure the financial sustainability of the Office;
a Social Study by PricewaterhouseCoopers, to assess the social environment, to benchmark our framework with best international standards and practices and to propose orientations for the future;
an Occupational Health and Safety Risk Assessment (OHSRA) by International Institute of Risk and Safety Management and Professor R. Löfstedt (King's College, London), to identify health and safety hazards, potential risks and appropriate measures to protect those working at EPO facilities.
Altogether, the three studies published on 23.9.2016 give a comprehensive overview of the current situation of the Office, modelled possible future scenarios and made a series of recommendations for the future, as well as offering a detailed insight into the working environment at the EPO.
On 11.10.2016, the first time ever Social Conference was organised, bringing together representatives of all EPO stakeholders. Around 350 stakeholders (staff members, management, staff representatives, trade unionists and delegates of the Administrative Council) took part in a full day's programme at the Isar building, following the publishing of the three reports on the situation of the EPO and to discuss the findings. Thousands more staff followed the plenary sessions online via EPO.tv and which was accessed 6 300 times throughout the day.
Part of the meeting was dedicated to workshops on four themes; Social Dialogue; Financial Sustainability and Social Package; Wellbeing in the Workplace; Change Management and Readiness to Change. To allow for the possibility of greater participation by each staff member, each workshop was sub-divided into three parallel working groups of approximately 25 participants and ensured balanced participation of AC members, all staff levels and all DGs.
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Building on the success of the Social Conference and the wish expressed by the participants to continue contributing to this constructive process, follow-up working groups were organised shortly later. The main objective of these workshops was to gather the views of EPO staff on the major social and financial EPO matters and thereby feed a general orientation paper with was presented to the December AC meeting.
The Office's social agenda in 2017 will focus on continuing enhancing social dialogue and improving change management capabilities by strengthening the role of managers and including directly the staff at various stages of projects through focus groups.
VIII. EPN
A. CO-OPERATION WITH MEMBER STATES
2016 marked the fifth year of implementation of the Co-operation Roadmap within the European Patent Network (EPN). The bilateral Co-operation Plans (BCPs) which are the core element of this Roadmap have proven highly effective. The EPO can draw very positive interim results for the EPN: 34 of the 38 Member States collaborate with the Office on the basis of BCPs now. It is important to note that quite a few of the Member States have concluded a co-operation agreement with the EPO for the first time ever. Even the two Extension States have signed such an agreement.
The resounding success of the BCPs is also reflected by some 20 BCPs which were renewed in 2016 due to the end of the first agreement validity period. As the new BCPs have a run-time of three years again the Office has a planning horizon with the majority of Member States until the end of 2018 and beyond.
2016 saw the tenth Annual Meeting with Member States which was held in Tirana in June, with the support of the Albanian IP Office. Senior management from 37 national offices including those from the Extension States attended this anniversary event. The 2017 Annual Meeting is organised on 03-04 July in Bergen, Norway.
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The well-established Info Day on Co-operation in Munich on 16 February was again condensed into a half-day activity back-to-back with the Academy Contact Persons Meeting. Many bilateral work meetings took place on the day after. Management representatives from 34 national offices took part in this twin event.
Beside the management meetings, the EPO held eight technical events in 2016. EPN workshops on Quality at Source, Espacenet New and Federated Register centred on the project status, implementation issues and next steps. A workshop on data processing was about the exchange of experiences in the use of e-data flows in national offices. The annual EPOQUE Net meeting was devoted to new functionalities amongst others. All these events were very well attended by the Member States.
eFiling, now renamed as Hosted Filing Submission, is the latest substantial IT project within the framework of the Co-operation Roadmap. The project was launched in summer 2016, including the creation of a pilot group of national offices. Experts from Finland, Germany, Serbia, Spain, Sweden and The United Kingdom met three times in 2016 to discuss the parameters of the eFiling solution as well as the security aspect of the new system. Another meeting was recently held in Stockholm.
The other IT projects advanced considerably in 2016. The number of Member States participating in Quality at Source, has bounced up to 29. While another twelve national offices entered into the project in 2016, six more offices joined the project in early 2017, whose focus is on standardising the exchange of patent data within the EPN.
The results of Quality at Source provide the basis for the Espacenet New project which encompasses 28 national offices. This project which started mid-2015, reached its first target at the end of 2016: the main deliverable, an Espacenet interface in the national language for each participating national office, is operational almost everywhere. The full-text functionality will be enhanced through Quality at Source in order to make it available for potentially all new interfaces.
The Federated European Patent Register project is progressing continuously. The number of national offices offering free access to legal status data on European patents, amounted to 17 at the beginning of 2017. Compared to the previous year's level, this number has more than doubled. More offices are in testing and will be added to the display list in the medium term.
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Also, the CPC system is becoming more widespread in the Member States: at the end of 2016, 16 national offices already classified in the new global classification standard or were on the verge of doing it. So far, six national offices provide their classification data to us.
The training projects under the Co-operation Roadmap are met with ever growing approval by the national offices. In 2016, the Discussion Platform for Exchange on Patent Procedures was run in eight Member States. This forum for discussion on a selected technical field has been organised 21 times since 2014.
The EQE Candidate Support Project (CSP) has entered its fifth year. Another ten students started their training in 2016. Altogether, the CSP has supported 91 patent attorneys from 17 Member States since 2012. 16 students from 6 Member States have successfully completed the EQE so far. As the complete CSP training extends over three years first students could only sit final exams in 2015. The project has already reached its target in six Member States which have now five or more EQE-qualified patent attorneys.
The IT and training projects represent the bulk of activities within the framework of the Co-operation Roadmap. Another project under the Co-operation Roadmap which gains more and more momentum is IP pre-diagnosis. Eight Member States are already adopting this service to support SMEs in their innovation management. Due to the strong interest, the EPO will offer specific events in 2017.
B. EUROPEAN PATENT ACADEMY a) Institutional Strengthening
Co-operation roadmap-based training, dedicated to national patent office staff, was implemented in accordance with the work plan approved by the Academy Supervisory Board and in close co-operation with the NPOs. In 2016, member state offices made use of more than 2250 trainee slots, confirming the relevance of the Academy training programme.
The expert seminars on examination in selected fields, and the seminar on efficient dialogue between examiners and patent attorneys organised with the Swiss Office in Bern and the Bulgarian Office in Sofia respectively confirmed their success.
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The 6th edition of the conference "Board of Appeal and key decisions" held in Munich in November was again fully booked with more than 250 participants, originating from 36 countries.
New events were developed: "The EPO, an internal view" with focus on DG2 (quality, formalities, customer relation, IT roadmap) and a joint EPO-CPVO seminar for experts of both institutions, allowing for a better understanding of the complementarity between the two protection systems.
A second joint EPO-CPVO workshop was organised, with the aim of increasing further mutual understanding of the legal systems and developing knowledge sharing.
Two exchange platforms between EPO examiners and examiners from national patent offices were carried out in Denmark (in the field of CII) and in Sweden (mechanical engineering), with a total audience of more than 120 people.
Finally, the Academy contact persons meeting took place, together with the information day on co-operation with member states. b) Judicial Training
The European Patent Academy co-organised a judges' seminar in Tallinn with the co-operation and support of the Estonian Patent Office and the Supreme Court of Estonia. In line with the MoU with the UPC PrepCom, a second round of basic training was delivered at the UPC Budapest Training Centre. The annual European Judges' Forum was also held again in Venice where the leading judges and litigators exchanged views on current topics of interest in patent litigation.
The complete collection of modules of the "Patent Litigation A to Z" e-learning curriculum was finalised and can be found on the EPO website, freely accessible to all. The modules provide a comprehensive overview of issues arising in patent litigation in Europe – from the legal framework, disputes in and out of court, and outcomes of litigation. c) Innovation Support
The Academy continued to support businesses and their advisors for example by a series of virtual classroom and eLearning sessions about technology commercialisation. A classroom training example are the two well-received events in co-operation with The Hellenic Industrial Property Organisation that took place in Thessaloniki und Ioannina, conducted as part of the bilateral co-operation plan.
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The development of training support material continued:
A workshop for experts in the course of the SME case study development project was held in co-operation with the chief economist unit.
A special issue of the distinguished Elsevier journal World Patent Information will be published with selected contributions at Search Matters events. The submitted articles were recently accepted in the peer review process confirming the high quality of the material and enabling publication. The articles will be available free of charge avoiding entry barriers to the high quality content. SMEs in particular will benefit from this improved access to examiners' expertise in search strategies and techniques as they typically do not have the resources to participate at the Search Matters events.
The Academy is organising Search Matters as an annual showcase of the Office's search expertise again this year in Munich. The two and a half day event is mainly attended by search professionals from businesses but also from private patent practices and public research organisations. In addition to lectures and workshops, at-the-desk sessions enable users to learn from examiners in one-to-one sessions. d) Professional representatives
The EPO has strengthened its relationship with the European Patent Institute (epi). The European Patent Academy and epi will jointly organise courses and seminars benefitting European patent attorneys all over Europe. At the same time, the Academy has intensified its co-operation activities with individual national patent attorney associations, supporting national events by providing EPO experts.
In December, the year's Guidelines2day series of roving seminars was closed in Vienna, after having touched another 10 cities across Europe. This series – supported by the epi – offers hundreds of patent attorneys in many member states the opportunity to learn the latest on EPO procedural and legal changes. e) Academia
A major conference was organised in co-operation with the OBI in Athens on inventions in the agricultural and food sector. Moreover several IPR workshops for researchers were implemented in co-operation with national patent offices, universities and the EC agency REA. IPR training was offered to EC project officers within DG Connect in Brussels.
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About 100 experts from 32 member states met to explore how to disseminate IP knowledge in universities. This 6th Progress Conference, organised by the European Patent Academy in co-operation with the ETH Zurich and the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property, was attended by representatives of national patent offices, universities and technology transfer offices. Exchanges on best practice during the conference were very lively and reflected the great importance attached to raising IP knowledge level in universities across Europe. The long-term objective of this annual conference is to foster the harmonisation of IP knowledge in European universities, leading to the efficient use and exploitation of IP generated in academia. f) e-learning
In 2016 the Academy hosted over 1500 registered participants to the tutored courses or video versions thereof, mainly on the examiner's core activities, EQE pre-examination and business-related aspects of IP. A similar programme was approved for 2017 at the ASB meeting in November 2016.
On-line, asynchronous versions of courses related to the patent granting procedure were made available to the general public. Public webinars were hosted and recorded on a variety of topics.
In 2017 courses related to the use of patents and patent information in research and innovation centres will be made available to the general public.
On-line modules for the recordings of Search Matters and the Case Law conference were developed in 2016 as well as updated modules on computer implemented inventions (CII) and biotechnological inventions.
Starting in February 2017, recordings of public events (such as the lectures on formalities) will be made on a frequent basis. Progress is made in the re-design of the e-learning platform, scheduled for a relaunch in Q2 2017.
C. CO-OPERATION WITH EUIPO
The co-operation with the EUIPO, which was officially launched in 2011, yielded substantial results the following years. Both institutions committed to increase their common efforts notably to raise awareness about IP, to improve the offer of IP training opportunities in Europe.
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The joint Pan-European Seal Professional Traineeship Programme whose overall objective is to increase the IP awareness and education of students and/or future IP professionals, evolved into a long-term strategic activity in 2016. After the pilot year, the focus of the EPO is now on building up partnerships with top technical universities in all Member States. So far, the EPO and the EUIPO have signed Memoranda of Understanding with 35 leading universities and educational institutions in 18 Member States. A new group of fifty young graduates commenced its one-year paid internship in October 2016.
The IP Executive Week which is to take place alternately at the EPO and the EUIPO premises, was held in Munich in 2016. The seminar which acts as a learning platform for the acquisition of knowledge and the exchange of ideas in the field of IP, gathered 65 participants at executive level from 37 countries from Europe and overseas.
In October, the EPO and EUIPO published a second study highlighting the economic performance of industries that intensively use IP rights (patents, trade- marks, designs, copyright, plant variety rights and geographical indications) in the EU28 in the period 2011-2013. It shows once more the importance of intellectual property rights in the EU's economy: the study finds that IPR-intensive industries contribute to 42% of annual EU GDP, of which patent-intensive industries alone were responsible for almost 15%.Furthermore, 90% of the EU's trade with the rest of the world originate from these industries and they generate 82 million jobs (both direct and indirect) which are marked by the prevalence of higher than average wages. The study is essential reference material for all those who play a role in IP policy and will ensure that any debate on innovation and creativity is based on the latest sound evidence. The study was widely covered by the press. SIPO China has shown interest in translating the study for Chinese stakeholders and the public.
D. REPRESENTATION BEFORE THE EPO
At the end of 2016, the number of entries on the list of professional representatives before the EPO reached 11.835, which represents an increase of just over 2% on the previous year. In 2016, 514 candidates passed the European qualifying examination (EQE), representing a decrease of 12% compared to 2015. The number of successful candidates eligible for an exemption to the nationality requirement of Article 134(2)(a) EPC under Article 134(7)(a) EPC is 17 in 2016, representing 3.6% of the total number of candidates.
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The number of registered associations of professional representatives under Rule 152(11) EPC was 649 on 31.12.2016, which represents an increase of over 12% on the previous year. The last few years have registered a constant yearly increase of ca. 10-12% on average, which shows the success of this instrument. At the same time, the number of legal practitioners undertaking representation increased by 4,3% to reach a total of just over 1 900 by the end of 2016.
The workload to be dealt with regarding the registration of general authorisations remained constantly high due to the fact that an existing stock of over 64 500 registered general authorisations had to be managed and that many changes to existing general authorisations were requested in 2016 (21% increase over the previous year).
E. EUROPEAN PATENT REGISTER
As of its latest release, the European Patent Register is now fully prepared for procedural and legal events related to the European patent with unitary effect. In the Federated Register, the overview table now displays data from 15 member states; the most recent addition was Spain in October 2016. More member state offices will follow in 2017.
By the end of 2016 the registration of transfers of patent applications or patents on the European Patent Register amounted to almost half of the new cases to be dealt with by the Legal Division with regard to the European Patent Register. In the overall picture, the registration of transfers presently almost equals the cases of interruption of proceedings under Rule 142 EPC at around 35%. The registration of simple and exclusive licences amounted to around 20%. Stay of proceedings according to Rule 14 EPC and requests for the exclusion from file inspection made up the remaining 10% of the Legal Division's work in respect of the European Patent Register. Since its integration into the EPO's CRM ticketing system as from 1.4.2016, the Legal Division dealt with 414 CRM tickets in 2016.
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F. PATENT INFORMATION
Early in November 2016, in Madrid, the EPO held its Patent Information Conference, with the support of the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office. It has grown into the largest of its kind in Europe and this year – the 26th edition – brought together around 400 participants from over 45 countries. The Office presented its newly aligned patent information strategy at the event, based on four key characteristics: firstly, a commitment to being a leading provider based on data that is complete, useable, up to date and correct; secondly, developing services in such a way that recognises other organisations and private sector actors have a vital role to play in the dissemination of patent information; thirdly, with such rapidly growing volumes of patent information, ensuring the availability of the right tools for utilising the data; and, fourthly, co-operation efforts, including agreements with other offices to obtain patent information.
In November, the EPO extended its Global Dossier to data from other countries beyond the IP5, initially Canadian and PCT patent applications, making use of the information present in WIPO's CASE system (Centralized Access to Search and Examination).
The Office's databases have grown to the point that in November this year we reached 100 million documents in the bibliographic collection. Espacenet continues to improve with some behind-the-scenes developments aimed at harmonising the national interfaces. Up to now, 25 offices have migrated to the new, harmonised national interface, which include full-text search for five national collections.
The PATSTAT database remains the Office's best-selling data product and now includes NUTS (Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics) regionalisation codes. This makes it possible to carry out regional analysis below country level, for example at provincial level.
In the first quarter of 2017, the EPO will continue its efforts to ensure a close relationship with its stakeholders in the first quarter of 2017, holding its annual SACEPO/PDI sub-committee meeting and a meeting with the representatives of the commercial sector, PatCom, in Vienna.
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IX. EPO AS A GLOBAL PLAYER
A. INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS
In 2016, the EPO organised a tour of "Partnership for Quality" meetings with leading American, European and Asian user organisations such as AIPLA, IPO, BusinessEurope, epi, JIPA, KINPA and PPAC. This tradition will be continued in 2017.
In addition, the Office held its annual meeting with the International Federation of Intellectual Property Attorneys (FICPI), which gave attention to the Early Certainty endeavours and the reduction in Office backlogs. Meetings with two major national user organisations, the British Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA) and the Association Française des Spécialistes en Propriété Industrielle de l'Industrie (ASPI), completed the dialogue with customer representatives.
In other respects, the EPO signed two Memoranda of Understanding with the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP), a United Nations-backed public health organisation, and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). While IRENA makes use of PATSTAT and the Y02/Y04 classification system for climate technologies to feed their own data platform the MPP patent database is regularly updated through automatic data feeds from Espacenet. Both organisations acknowledge this support by promoting the EPO's patent information services in return.
B. BILATERAL RELATIONS a) Validation System
In December 2016, the Council approved the draft text of the Validation agreement with Cambodia, due to be signed in January 2017 in Phnom Penh. The Agreement will be ready to enter into force as soon as Cambodia has enacted provisions necessary for the functioning of the validation system. The EPO on its side is also preparing the proper implementation of the Agreement in order to be ready as soon as the Cambodian implementing provisions are in force, tentatively on 1st July. Entry into force of the Validation agreement with Cambodia is therefore expected in the course of 2017.
On 19 December 2016, Laos as the second Southeast Asian country, officially requested opening of negotiations on a validation agreement. The relevant document reflecting the situation in Laos is being provided to the present Council's meeting for approval.
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The validation agreement with Tunisia, which has been signed on 3.7.2014, is expected to enter into force in 2017 after the enactment by Tunisia of the provisions necessary for the functioning of this system. b) Technical Co-operation
Quite a number of events were held in all major regions throughout 2016 to further develop the technical co-operation with other offices:
Europe: the EPO revived its co-operation with Rospatent. Both Offices extended the existing MoU on CPC for three years and signed a biennial Co- operation Plan which includes CPC implementation and automated enriched data exchange according to Quality at Source among others. Also, the Office reinforced its relationship with the Eurasian Patent Office (EAPO) by signing three Memoranda of Understanding. The agreements cover CPC, the extension of EPOQUE Net and a two-year Work Plan including CPC training, data exchange and Espacenet New.
Asia: with a view to India, in December, the EPO hosted the fourth Indo- European conference in the area of information and communication technologies. On the fringes of the conference, the second Work Plan with the Indian office under the 2014 Memorandum of Understanding was signed. With SIPO, the EPO signed a new Memorandum of Understanding on CPC classification, which has a run-time of six years. In addition, a new Work Plan on bilateral co-operation was adopted for 2017. The new Work Plan with KIPO covers the period 2016/17. In October, the Office co-organised the Korea-EU IPR Conference together with the European Chambers of Commerce in Korea, the EUIPO, INPI France and KIPO.
North America: for the first time ever, an "EPO Attaché to the United States" was appointed as of 1.7.2016 for an initial period of one year. His main responsibilities will be to promote the services of the Office among current and future users and to collect feedback on the EPO.
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Latin America: the Office broke new ground in Cuba where a Memorandum of Understanding on bilateral co-operation was signed with the local IP office. The close co-operation with Mexico continued with the sound implementation of the bilateral Work Plan and the CPC training plan among others. The Office strengthened its relationship with Colombia with an agreement on a bilateral Work Plan while the relationship with Argentina was revived so that a Memorandum of Understanding on bilateral co-operation and a Work Plan can be envisaged in 2017. In Brazil, the EPO issued a Joint Statement with the Ministry of Industry, Foreign Trade and Services, which paves the way for a new Memorandum of Understanding on bilateral co-operation and a joint PPH pilot programme.
Australia: following the antecedent signature of a new Memorandum of Understanding on bilateral co-operation with IP Australia, the first comprehensive Work Plan was approved. Within this framework, IP Australia commenced a pilot on the CPC.
C. IP5 COOPERATION
The 2016 IP5 Heads of office meeting in Tokyo yielded some significant results. The Offices agreed on a number of concrete next steps for the Global Dossier initiative as well as the extension of the trial period of the IP5 PPH pilot programme beyond January 2017. Moreover, a programme was agreed in which the IP5 offices, at the request of patent applicants, collaborate on a limited number of search reports and opinions for international applications filed under the PCT. It is expected that this initiative will be launched in 2017.
The Global Dossier Initiative was given further impetus as the IP5 Heads endorsed the package proposed for the future, namely Alerting, Legal Status Data, Text Coded Documents, Applicant Name Standardisation and Cross Filing. The EPO took the lead for Alerting, working in conjunction with SIPO on this and the SIPO- led Legal Status Data.
The IP5 Heads met again on the fringes of the WIPO General Assemblies and decided to establish the "IP5 Industry Consultation Group" which will serve as the main vehicle for receiving industry input to IP5 topics and projects beyond the Global Dossier initiative, including procedural patent harmonisation and legal issues. The inaugural meeting of this group was held in January in Munich.
At the end of May/beginning of June 2017, the EPO will host the 10th IP5 Heads meeting and the related Industry meeting in Malta.
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a) Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH)
The Office continues to expand its PPH network, as this is essential in order to enable European users to access accelerated prosecution in their target markets on the basis of a high quality work product indicating patentable claims established by the EPO. At the same time, the use of the PPH at the EPO steadily increases.
With effect from 6.1.2017, the IP5 PPH pilot programme has been extended for a period of three years ending on 5.1.2020. On 1.2.2017 the EPO launched a bilateral, comprehensive PPH pilot programme with the Federal Institute for Intellectual Property (ROSPATENT). According to standard practice the pilot programme is comprehensive in scope, i.e. it covers both PCT and national work products, and its conditions are fully aligned to those of the IP5 PPH pilot programme. The Office is currently working on the implementation of further pilot programmes with Malaysia and the Philippines, while negotiations with the office of Brazil are on-going.
On 31.12.2016, the EPO had received a total of 8405 requests for participation in the PPH pilot programme. The majority of these requests are filed on the basis of a PCT work product. Japanese users continue to use the PPH at the EPO significantly, followed by American and Chinese applicants. In terms of technical areas the majority of incoming requests have been filed in Industrial Chemistry (13,4%), followed by Applied Physics (9,7%) and Electrical and Electronic Technology (9,5%).
With the increasing number of incoming PPH requests significant efforts are also undertaken to streamline and automate their processing. b) Patent Harmonisation Expert Panel (PHEP)
With the involvement and support of the Industry associations in all IP5 regions, the PHEP work aiming at the alignment of patent practices and procedures of the IP5 Offices is progressing according to schedule.
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Regarding unity of invention, a topic under the joint responsibility of the EPO and SIPO, the IP5 Offices have timely completed a first case study of their relevant practices in the field of mechanics. Preliminary results thereof and additional case studies in the fields of electricity and chemistry will be presented during the ad hoc meeting of the PHEP in April 2017. It is recalled that the scope of this activity is limited to the assessment of unity of invention in international applications only. However, with the exception of the USPTO, the remaining IP5 partners understand that the intended alignment of practices will also apply to applications entering the respective regional/national phase.
In the area of citation of prior art, the IP5 Offices are continuing to explore the reduction of user burden with respect to citation of prior art by deploying IT based solutions. This also involves the review of currently available tools, such as the CCD.
Regarding written description/sufficiency of disclosure, the IP5 Offices are conducting further hypothetical case studies compiled by the JPO on the practices pertaining to claim support.
Progress reports on all three PHEP topics were presented to the IP5 users in the inaugural meeting of the IP5 Industry Consultation Group (ICG) that took place on 19.1.2017. Users provided detailed input on the individual items of the PHEP agenda and confirmed their support for the ongoing endeavours on procedural patent harmonisation.
D. TRILATERAL COOPERATION
The 2016 Trilateral Meeting with industry was hosted by the USPTO and allowed for a sound exchange on technical, procedural and substantive patent harmonisation as well as next steps in the IP5 Global Dossier initiative. The EPO will host the next Trilateral Conference and meeting with Trilateral Industry in Seville at the end of March.
E. STRENGTHENING THE PCT
In 2016, the Office pursued its efforts in further improving its PCT services for both applicants and Offices which selected the EPO as ISA, the following six examples illustrate these efforts:
EPO PCT timeliness improved substantially over the last few years as a result of the various changes made to our internal PCT processes as well as the Office-wide Early Certainty for Search programme. Thanks to these endeavours, around 95% of all international applications searched by the EPO in 2016 have been published together with their search reports at 18 months.
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an increasing number of applicants are keen to use the PCT Direct service available at the EPO since 2014. This service may be selected – free of charge – in cases where the EPO already searched the priority application. With PCT Direct, applicants may explain the modifications made to their international applications with a view to overcome prior objections raised in the first search opinion.
the pilot testing the new PCT paperless service concluded successfully in September 2016 with seven receiving Offices transmitting now the search copies and subsequent documents to the EPO as ISA in electronic form: Italy, Spain, Finland, Norway, Japan, Israel and the International Bureau (WIPO). The EPO will now extend this new service to a dozen of receiving Offices in 2017 in a gradual manner. The evaluation of Group 1 started on 1 February with Austria, Sweden, South Africa, Djibouti, New Zealand, and it should last up until April.
following the positive feedback received from the users, the Office has extended its pilot on search strategies by one further year. This pilot consists in attaching an information sheet with key information data on how the search was performed by the examiner to all EP and PCT search reports established by the EPO.
since 1.11.2016, the EPO is now accepting subsequent documents filed via ePCT. This is an important milestone in our offer of online services to PCT applicants. In particular, this new development will facilitate the transactions between the EPO and its applicants from outside Europe who would otherwise not use EPO online tools.
the PCT Collaborative Search and Examination pilot, which is coordinated by the EPO, has been approved by the IP5 Heads on 2.6.2016 and is now on track. The CS&E Pilot Group adopted the pilot roadmap on 17.10. 2016 in Munich, and is now preparing the technical documentation which will serve as a basis for the launch of the operational phase, which is expected to take place in the second half of 2017.
F. SUBSTANTIVE PATENT LAW HARMONISATION
The EPO is in the process of organising the B+ Users' Symposium, which it will be hosting on behalf of the B+ Sub-Group in Munich on 20.6.2017, and which will bring together the Industry Trilateral, the national Industry groups of other B+ members not represented within the Industry Trilateral, and delegations from the B+ Sub-Group and the substantive Workstreams.
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Within the Group B+, substantive work is in a state of semi-suspension, as delegations are waiting for input from the Industry Trilateral on the state of play of their own harmonisation work, with regard to the progress achieved since the setback suffered by the users in May 2016, when one association pulled out of essential elements of the agreed consensus.
As you know, the EPO is of the view that the users should be leading the harmonisation process, so that it is considered appropriate to wait for signals to come from the users before embarking on further analyses. The EPO will host a B+ Users' Symposium in June 2017.
G. CO-OPERATION WITH WIPO
Since the beginning of June 2016, EPO examiners have had access to WIPO CASE data. The extension of WIPO CASE to Global Dossier for public access, initially for the file wrappers from the WIPO IB (PCT dossiers) and the Canadian Office, was launched in November at the EPO's Patent Information Conference in Madrid. Moreover, the Office organised a bilateral meeting in November on IT tools and services to ensure maximum synergy between the two systems and to avoid duplication of efforts.
X. UNITARY PATENT / UNIFIED PATENT COURT
A. UNITARY PATENT
The secondary legal framework for the Unitary Patent has been fully completed with the adoption by the Select Committee, at its meeting in October 2016, of the administrative instructions under Article 7 of the Rules relating to the Distribution of Fees amongst the participating Member States. Moreover, the Chairman of the Select Committee launched a questionnaire on national measures accompanying the implementation of the Unitary Patent. The replies submitted by delegations were collated in a first document which will need to be gradually updated. The EPO envisages publishing these national accompanying measures on its website in due course.
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In the light of the expected launch of the Unitary Patent at the end of 2017, the EPO now has a clear time table to finalise the remaining technical implementation work and is concluding the last steps with the highest priority. The key products and services for activation of the Unitary Patent system have been largely delivered, especially the online filing tools, the Register for Unitary Patent Protection, which will have the same structure and functionalities as the European Patent Register, the EBD-expansion (European Bibliographic Data) to Unitary Patent Register entries, and the European Patent Bulletin. Some products and services in the IT field are currently being refined, the objective being to perform a dry run of the entire system with simulated cases before the software is actually fully activated. The EPO also envisages publishing soon materials for the users on how to obtain, maintain and manage the Unitary Patent.
B. UNIFIED PATENT COURT (UPC)
Following the announcement on 28.11.2016 by the UK government that it is proceeding with preparations to ratify the UPC Agreement, the Preparatory Committee of the UPC has intensified its preparatory work with a view to the entry into force of the UPC Agreement in December 2017 – which will also be the time where the EPO will start to register Unitary Patents. Entry into force will be preceded by a period of provisional application of the UPC Agreement, to enable the UPC's governing bodies to be set up and finalise implementation, in particular recruit the judges of the UPC and make final arrangements for the start of operations.
A challenging timeline has been drawn up for the completion of all necessary tasks in due time, in particular in the areas of IT (case management system, online opt- out tool), human resources (interviews, training), finances (payment of contributions by Member States) and registry. In parallel, several national parliaments are proceeding swiftly with finalising their ratification procedures, so that it can be expected that both the Unitary Patent and the UPC will start with significantly more than the required 13 Member States.
C. UNITARY PATENT PROTECTION DIVISION
During the period under review the Division focused on bringing the preparation of the implementation of the UP-system to its final phase in accordance with the objectives set, so that the Division is in a position to apply, in terms of legal and technical matters, the proper administration of patents with unitary effect in an on- line filing environment as well as on a paper based system. The Division will be ready to go operational in 2017 if the new system enters into force.
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To mention only some examples concerning this practical preparatory work: about 70 new or amended FORMS were finalized in the three official languages of the EPO. Among them a certificate attesting the registration of a European patent with unitary effect has been drafted. A new part of the European Patent Register was set up, dealing with all relevant information concerning procedural issues and status of a unitary patent. In this respect it has to be emphasised that in close cooperation with the IT-services of the Unified Patent Court content and technical methodology were fixed in order to establish a well-functioning system of data exchange between the two authorities regarding all relevant items on pending proceedings. This process is still on going.
In addition to this the final version of a new part IV in the European Patent Bulletin has been drafted for publication of the most important issues relating to European patents with unitary effect.
The Division also started with the preparatory work necessary for the alignment of the provision of the European Patent Convention with the Rules relating to unitary patent. In order to ensure legal certainty, those decisions and communiqués will be published in the Official Journal of the EPO as soon as the date for entry into force of the agreement is known.
XI. EPO AND THE SOCIETY
A. ANNUAL REPORT 2015
The most significant announcement to the media in the first quarter of 2016 was the continuing growth in patent applications at the EPO, up 4.8 per cent to over 160 000. European applicants consolidated their share of 47 per cent of the total applications at the EPO last year, with the US and Japan posting similar figures (27% and 13% respectively) to last year too. The biggest growth came from Chinese and US applicants, up by 22.2% and 16.4% respectively. These numbers were put into a broader context with national rankings for patent applications to the EPO per million inhabitants where nine European countries are in the top ten.
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The EPO's press conference held in February 2016 in Brussels attracted a record attendance of 40 journalists (up from 30 in 2015) and generated a new record number of media clippings on the annual figures (a total of 1 049 media reports only in the first month, which was 57% more than in 2015). In almost every European country the outcome was better than the year before. Especially in Italy, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Austria the numbers of publications increased significantly. The largest number of articles appeared again in the German press. The publication of the EPO's results to the press was supported by a comprehensive section on our website with statistics, graphics, videos and a highlight report, leading to almost 230 000 page views of the online Annual Report between March and December.
Media coverage of the EPO's annual results continued throughout 2016, drawing considerable public attention to the topic of patents throughout the whole year, which contributes to the growing public awareness of patents and innovation.
B. EUROPEAN INVENTOR AWARD
The 11th edition of the European Inventor Award took place in Lisbon on 9.6.2016. The Award offers an excellent opportunity to promote the European patent system as a whole and demonstrate its central role in promoting technological progress, innovation, prosperity and job creation.
The 2016 Award ceremony was attended by more than 550 guests, including prominent guests such as António Costa, Prime Minister of Portugal, Carlos Moedas, European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, Baroness Lucy Neville-Rolfe, UK Minister for Intellectual Property, Anabela Pedroso, Secretary of State of the Portuguese Ministry of Justice, Raivis Kronbergs, Executive State Secretary of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Latvia, and Jury members, including José Luis Arnaut, António Campinos, Mario Moretti Polegato, Mandy Haberman, Ivars Kalvins, Wolfgang Heckl and Laura van ‘t Veer. Moreover, 70 Portuguese, European and international journalists were present to report on the ceremony.
The 15 finalists were selected by an independent international jury out of nearly 400 individuals and teams of inventors proposed for the 2016 Award. The 2016 finalists came from 13 countries: Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Lithuania, Sweden, the UK and the US, and were revealed to the media and public on 26 April.
The inventors had the opportunity to give again some 100 interviews to journalists at the event in Lisbon alone, ensuring a large advertisement of their success.
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Once more the Award attracted wide media attention: by the end of December, the 2016 Award had generated some 2 000 media reports around the world, on a par with the excellent results achieved in 2015. The overall quality of reporting further improved, in terms of primetime TV slots and top-tier media outlets, especially high-circulation daily newspapers, across Europe. The number of reports by news agencies, which are important sources for many other media, nearly doubled, with most major wire services reporting on the European Inventor Award in 2016.
In 2016, targeted film marketing efforts resulted in excellent coverage of the EPO's material on national public television stations across Europe, which boosted advertising equivalent value. Highlights included broadcasts of EPO film material on French-German public TV station ARTE (the weekly science magazine "FutureMag", with an audience of 300 000 viewers) and Austrian public broadcaster ORF1 (their most popular weekly science magazine "Newton" with ca. 100 000 viewers). French cable TV station Science & Vie TV (which reaches 6.5 million households in France and an average of 904 000 viewers a month) broadcasted the EPO's video clips on all 15 Award finalists, a live transmission of the Award ceremony, and original material with reporting from Lisbon. More primetime TV coverage of the 2016 Award is still expected into 2017 on the science programmes of German, Belgian, French, Norwegian, Polish and Swedish public and private broadcasters.
The media response showed that the European Inventor Award has established itself as one of Europe's premium prizes for innovation.
In the social media channels, too, the usage increased again significantly with conversation volumes doubling and video views growing by 300%, starting from high levels already. Consequently, the Award online public poll – the Popular Prize – attracted 24% more votes than last year, totalling over 56 000.
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C. EPO-EUIPO STUDY ON THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF IP
The EPO published a joint study in October 2016 with the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) on the economic benefits of IP for Europe. The publication was supported by a targeted media campaign carried out by both offices, which emphasised the importance of patents and other IP rights for the European economy. The study attracted wide media coverage across Europe, leading to more than 60 media articles from all over Europe. The topic also proved popular in social media: Over 110 000 people followed EPO's messages about the study on various channels, and also engaged in lively discussions on Twitter and Facebook.
D. CLIMATE CHANGE, GREEN TECHNOLOGIES AND BIOTECHNOLOGIES
On 12 December 2016 the EPO published a website news item announcing that it had decided to stay all proceedings in examination and opposition cases in which the invention is a plant or animal obtained by an essentially biological process. The decision was taken following the discussion by EPO member states in the Patent Law Committee of the Administrative Council on the recent Notice of the European Commission related to certain articles in the EU Biopatent Directive (98/44/EC). Amongst other things, the Commission's Notice, published on 3 November, considers that according to the EU legislator, plants and animals derived from essentially biological processes should not be considered patentable.
This news was met with media interest, especially among the IP specialised press and life sciences news sites.
XII. CONCLUDING REMARKS
In 2016, the EPO saw the confirmation of the promising trends observed in 2015 in terms of production, quality and efficiency. The combined implementation of structural reforms, like the New Career and Performance system, and initiatives in patent granting process, like Early Certainty, allowed overcoming the results of last year. In the meantime, the Office conducted a major reform of the EPO appeal system with a large support of the AC, enhancing the perception of independence of the Boards of Appeal while striving for more efficiency.
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During the same period, the Office mandated renowned external international consultants to conduct an in-depth review of its financial, social and health and safety situation. The results were shared and discussed in a transparent manner with all the stakeholders, notably during the first Social Conference.
Their main conclusions underline that sharp progress has been made in terms of production, productivity and quality. As a result, these gains have had a major positive impact on the financial situation of the Office and its capacity to cover all of its liabilities. Additionally, the social package of the EPO compares very favourably with other international organisations and the private sector.
It was also concluded that the social reforms are in line with the best international standards and are fully compliant with international norms and human rights. Furthermore, the Office provides a very good working environment, where the health and safety risks are very low and recent organisational changes are in line with the best practices. Some areas where improvement could be achieved were also identified. Altogether, they provide a fruitful support to the Organisation in defining its future priorities.
XIII. RECOMMENDATION FOR PUBLICATION
Yes
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