CA/88/19 Orig.: en Munich, 26.09.2019
SUBJECT: President's activities report SUBMITTED BY: President of the European Patent Office ADDRESSEES: Administrative Council (for information)
CA/88/19 e 2019-7203 - I -
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Subject Page
I. INTRODUCTION 1 II. GOAL 1: BUILD AN ENGAGED, KNOWLEDGEABLE AND COLLABORATIVE ORGANISATION 1 III. GOAL 2: SIMPLIFY AND MODERNISE EPO IT SYSTEMS 6 IV. GOAL 3: DELIVER HIGH-QUALITY PRODUCTS AND SERVICES EFFICIENTLY 10 V. GOAL 4: BUILD A EUROPEAN PATENT SYSTEM AND NETWORK WITH A GLOBAL IMPACT 21 VI. GOAL 5: SECURE LONG-TERM SUSTAINABILITY 37 VII. RECOMMENDATION FOR PUBLICATION 42
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I. INTRODUCTION
Transparency of the Office's activities is ensured through regular reporting to the Council. The present report outlines the major developments and most relevant endeavours characterising 2019 so far.
In June the Council unanimously approved the Strategic Plan 2023 (SP2023) that encompasses the five strategic goals the Office will pursue to evolve into a sustainable office that delivers excellence. Until now the reporting had a configuration linked to the various business areas and to the relevant departmental subdivisions, focusing more upon the operations of the Office. This report seeks to gradually move towards a report that more closely reflects SP2023, following its structure and describing the achievements in the various goals and key initiatives.
This report therefore needs to be understood as a transitional one that will improve alongside the implementation of the programmes and projects of the SP.
The Office also intends to propose a better aligned and more comprehensive reporting process. An annual report on the implementation of SP2023 will be submitted to every June meeting of the Administrative Council, together with the other annual reports in annex, such as the Social, Environmental, and Quality reports. In this way a consolidated report on the management of the Office will coincide with the submission of the Opinion of the Board of Auditors on the yearly accounts of the Office.
II. GOAL 1: BUILD AN ENGAGED, KNOWLEDGEABLE AND COLLABORATIVE ORGANISATION
In SP2023, the EPO has placed a focus on the development of its staff and their performance. After all, the achievements of the EPO's staff have supported the Office's overall success throughout its history. Among the goals of SP2023, the EPO has therefore committed to ensuring it is capable of attracting some of the brightest talents from across Europe and to supporting their ongoing professional development. The successful fulfilment of those goals are closely linked to staff engagement, which underpins not just Goal 1, but also the ability to achieve many of the EPO's other strategic goals.
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Like other pivotal projects, such as a reorganised BIT, some initiatives were started before June 2019, to help the EPO address issues that were felt to be particularly pressing. Making immediate progress on staff engagement was seen to be one of those pivotal projects. A Strategic Staff Survey, which sought to accurately measure staff engagement, was therefore carried out in the first half of 2019. Its findings have revealed a number of clearly identifiable action points which will in time either be translated into projects and programmes of SP2023 or carried out as accompanying measures in other projects. The Office-wide staff survey has helped the EPO to focus on the promotion of direct communication to the staff and reinforcement of managerial communication, talent development, and social dialogue.
• ATTRACT AND DEVELOP TALENTS
As previously reported to the Council, the office has adopted a prudent approach to recruitment taking into account the progress of the Early Certainty programme. As the Office makes progress in absorbing its backlogs, it continuously seeks to improve rebalancing of its staff, in particular examiners and formalities officers.
In the frame of the rebalancing exercise, several internal DG 1 job fairs were organised, involving 59 teams across sectors. Examiners interested in a move to another technical field will receive the appropriate support and the possibility to have a test phase before transferring to other team. Any move will be accompanied by reskilling programmes to make sure that the needs of both the staff concerned and the Office are met.
These actions were completed by the usual external recruitment process: since the beginning of the year, 81 external candidates were recruited as examiners, 40 have already started in different fields of technology, while 41 other suitable candidates should start in the near future.
As part of the initiatives to foster diversity, the Office has launched the mentoring programme, "Women in the Lead" to support talented women in developing their career perspectives and personal development opportunities through structured exchanges with experienced senior managers and directors. The programme started in April 2019 with a pilot for 51 mentees and 26 mentors and will last six months. The full mentoring programme will be rolled-out in the coming months.
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Building upon the success of the part-time working scheme, and as part of the Office's efforts to support flexible working arrangements and a work-life balance, the ad hoc teleworking pilot was launched in April this year. Up until this point, 44% of eligible employees have signed the agreement and 111 employees have already teleworked and so far 400 days of telework were requested. A qualitative analysis to measure the satisfaction of both employer and employees is on-going in order to adjust the scheme before its extension to all staff.
• PRAKTIKA EXTERN PROGRAM
The Praktika Extern Program has been an excellent learning opportunity for examiners, IP attorneys and Industry in developing an enhanced understanding of their respective needs. The successful implementation of the Praktika Extern program enabled 86 examiners to work directly within a user organisation for a period of up to three weeks. 393 examiners participated in the programme between 2010 and 2018.
Evaluation and feedback received also helps the EPO to focus on continual improvement of procedures and workflows. In 2019 the program has been expanded to include 30 formalities officers.
200 Praktika Extern examiner participation (incl. 2019 applications)
150 150
100 86
55 50 46 39 41 42 36 34
14 0 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
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• MAKING OUR PREMISES MORE FUNCTIONAL
The bike parking facility at the Isar building is now operational. In line with the EPO's health policy, it will encourage staff to use an environmentally-friendly form of transport.
Construction work on the PH7 data centre for disaster recovery has been finalised. It fully complies with the established data centre standards (EN 50600 class 3).
In February 2019, the BFC approved the request to increase the facility capacity for the BoA located in Haar. The extra meeting space and additional, fully- refurbished offices were handed over to the BoA in two stages in April and October 2019.
As of the beginning of September, staff members can also use their access badge for the canteen, cafeteria and coffee purchases at all sites, and for printing documents. New recharge machines have also been installed outside the canteens, for crediting access badges.
The asbestos removal in Old Main in The Hague is progressing as planned and constructive demolition is scheduled to start in January 2020. Regular onsite checks confirm that the removal and demolition preparation activities fully take into account staff health and safety.
The new Corporate Contract Process (CCP) was implemented successfully in 2019 for several major contracts across sites. This new methodology, focusing on quality control throughout the entire process, gives the EPO a suitable level of control over activities, and also when outsourced.
• DIRECT AND TRANSPARENT COMMUNICATION WITH THE STAFF AND FOLLOW-UP OF THE STAFF SURVEY
A wide-range of initiatives are ongoing to improve direct communications with staff. These include more systematic communications via videos, in addition to communiqués, dedicated intranet pages on important topics and events, such as SP2023, follow-up of the staff survey, quality, social dialogue, and financial study. Specific efforts are also focused on managerial communication.
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Through new discovery sessions, team managers and directors are able to interact directly on strategic and operational issues directly with the President and Vice-Presidents. Since June 2019, around 200 managers have participated in the discovery sessions. This programme will continue throughout the implementation of the Strategic Plan.
Following the publication to all staff of the staff survey results, the results were debated at each managerial level, from units to DG. These discussions allowed the Office to build a comprehensive action addressing areas of improvement, such as managerial communication, working effectiveness, quality and external reputation, and talent development.
• DIALOGUE WITH SOCIAL PARTNERS
A wide-range of topics are currently under discussion in several meetings of working groups at the technical level, covering the performance management system, the resources and communication means for Staff Representatives, the actuarial funding valuation and remuneration and social security, healthcare and guide to cover. These meetings have paved the way for the Office to submit written proposals to Staff Representatives on these issues before the end of year.
In addition, discussions have been held on the next salary adjustment. The analysis of the impact of the current formula and proposals for the future have been addressed, with a view to making concrete proposals to the June 2020 Administrative Council.
In the framework of the "Diversity and Inclusion" programme, a working group involving staff representatives has been established.
New rounds of discussions with the unions have been held. In the frame of these discussions, the Office has made an offer to integrate SUEPO offices into the EPO's premises.
Concrete proposals have been made to close and amicably settle past disciplinary cases concerning staff representatives.
To enhance transparency, the social dialogue intranet page was recently revised to display agendas and outcomes of different meetings between the administration and social partners. In addition, a new dedicated mailbox for questions, comments and suggestions from staff has been introduced. Announcements regarding specific projects and working groups will soon be published.
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III. GOAL 2: SIMPLIFY AND MODERNISE EPO IT SYSTEMS
A digital transformation is a key element in achieving a more effective and sustainable organisation. The simplification and modernisation of EPO IT systems therefore started immediately with the reorganisation of its structure to create a more agile structure that has clarified responsibilities and supports effective decision making.
As underlined in Goal 1, people are at the centre of the EPO's success and, accordingly knowledgeable and skilled staff will be instrumental in achieving a successful digital transformation. As such an upskilling exercise is underway. Progress can also be reported in a range of other areas from IT infrastructure, deliverable for supporting a patent grant process and the preparatory work for IT cooperation, which started in July.
• AUDIT LEADING TO ACTIONS
Following the BCG audit on IT, a new organisational structure has been implemented. The new structure, which became effective as of 1st of May 2019, introduced a flatter structure, bringing together Information Management (IM) and Automation Support functions of DG 1. The revised organisational structure clarifies responsibilities by reducing complexity and hierarchical layers. This should result in more efficiency and effectiveness.
The Office is also conducting an ongoing upskilling exercise to achieve a knowledgeable and reliable IT workforce. Over 90% of IT staff took part in a skills survey which, together with the learning paths which are currently being defined, will serve as the basis for individual professional development plans. However, some upskilling efforts have already started such as webinars on technical subject matters and knowledge exchange meetings on patent granting process. These initiatives could be started sooner since the Office has been able to tap into the knowledge already available in the organisation. The training has been developed internally by staff members for staff members
The new organisation is led by a CIO and CTO function, supported by 6 Directors. 3 of those Directors are in charge of 3 "vertical" lines of activity: PGP, Corporate and IT co-operation, while the 3 remaining ones manage "horizontal" functions that cut across the whole area: IT Architecture, IT Planning and IT Operations.
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• UPGRADING IT INFRASTRUCTURE
The two rooms in the new data centre in Luxembourg were handed over to EPO in September 2018. By April 2019 the racks, cables, power, and cooling were installed and audited by EPO and an external party. The connectivity to Munich and The Hague was set up in May 2019. Servers for the new data centre were delivered for testing in The Hague during summer 2019. Firewalls will now be set up and servers will be moved to the new Data Centre, prior to migrating the applications that will be running before the end of 2020.
The Office has also invested in improving its disaster recovery server capacity, located in its BT7 building in Munich: 82% of the physical servers, 70% of the number of CPUs, and 90% of the memory capacity is available in case of a disaster. Coupled with a secondary mainframe available in BT7 in order to support legacy systems, this is deemed sufficient hardware to face a crisis.
In the course of the year all the Office's desktop computers will be replaced with high-performance, state-of-the-art laptops running the latest versions of Windows (windows 10) and MS Office software, which will improve the user experience for EPO staff, as well as enhancing security, mobility and collaboration. The project is ongoing with a pilot of 250 staff members and approximately 10 000 PCs are planned to be rolled out between October and the end of 2019.
The mainframe re-platforming project was also kicked-off in view of porting legacy applications to a more modern, open source platform and allow for the decommissioning of the IBM mainframe at the end of 2020.
• DELIVERIES FOR THE PATENT GRANT PROCESS
Progress has been made on improving the Office's existing tools:
o A new beta version of Espacenet was unveiled in 2018, and has since been fine-tuned and improved continuously on the basis of feedback received, so that by the end of 2019 it can replace the current Espacenet.
o A new version of ANSERA including non-patent literature has been made available to examiners in 2019.
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o In close cooperation with the USPTO, the new CPC International system was rolled out sucessfully. It introduces major IT improvements: a new, cloud- based, modern infrastructure for the CPC data exchange between the EPO and USPTO, the storage of CPC classification data at simple patent family level only, and the suppression of the concept of "co-ownership of allocations" (i.e. each office will manage its own allocations). Users will also be able to see which office has endorsed a CPC allocation and use this information during a search. The capability of selecting the classifying office will improve the quality of search with changes visible in various EPO products including EPOQUE, EpoqueNet, ANSERA and Espacenet.
o The performance of the eDrex application has been improved to make it more user-friendly for examiners.
o Improvements to Trimaran and other internal tools have been implemented to contribute to an enhanced user experience.
o Following the agreement with the CPVO (Community Plant Variety Office), data concerning plant varieties is now searchable by EPO examiners.
o Several other changes aiming at preserving the legal compliance of our IT systems have taken place, like the abolishment of cheques as a refund method, adjustments to PCT fees, changes to the Boards of Appeal Rules of Procedure and Amendment to Rule 126 EPC.
o The Office continues to face difficulties with creating a harmonised filing system that will replace the existing filing solutions, and allow for the submission of DocX filings. Progress has been slower than expected, but a pilot phase on the basis of a reduced number of EP forms has been planned for the end of 2019.
o A new technology for storing images has been used to replace a legacy system. This now powers Espacenet as well as EPOQUE and ANSERA. This new system is ready to support colour images and drawings in the future.
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• PREPARATORY WORK FOR IT CO-OPERATION
Following the annual co-operation meeting that took place in Kilkenny, the Office proceeded to set up the co-operation mechanisms to run the future co-operation projects in the area of IT.
A round of technical visits to almost all Offices took place predominantly between July and September 2019, and has laid the grounds for designing a project portfolio to be discussed at technical level during at the TOSC meeting, by IT experts from all NPOs.
• DELIVERIES FOR OTHER AREAS
The migration of EPO's SAP infrastructure to a cloud-based solution in SAP/HEC is well under way and planned to be completed in early 2020, which will enhance the availability of our corporate systems, as well as producing some savings in terms of IT operations. Reporting solutions and dashboards for data quality, travel management, HR and General Administration were deployed.
The EPO's Language Service is now largely digitalised thanks to its full set of Computer-Assisted Translation Tools (CAT). A machine translation (MT) tool has recently been integrated into these CAT tools. It allows for the secure machine translation of unpublished and confidential documents.
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IV. GOAL 3: DELIVER HIGH-QUALITY PRODUCTS AND SERVICES EFFICIENTLY
In the context of an increasing volume of applications, the EPO remains committed to focusing on the quality of its products and services, while simultaneously improving the performance of the Patent Granting Process.
A number of actions are underway to reflect the priorities identified in SP2023 that will help the EPO to offer a more efficient Patent Granting Process that is capable of making continual improvements in Quality.
The User is at the centre of these improvements and discussions have therefore been undertaken with external stakeholders, as well as internally, to work in partnership with applicants and enforce user dialogue undertaken in Goal 3. Discussions on the definition of Quality have been launched and progressed throughout the year, helping to attain feedback from a range of users.
At the same time, the Office is making progress in becoming a more agile organisation. The backlog has been reduced, timeliness continues to improve, supported by a rebalancing exercise.
In addition, innovative ways of working have started to be developed, such as the Collaborative Quality Improvement pilot, which has already yielded a marked increase in quality as a direct result of the initiative. Given the crucial role that audits play in monitoring quality, the Office is also reflecting on ways to reinforce the impact of DQA audits on the quality of its products.
The European Patent Register continues to show positive trends in terms of timeliness and perceived quality. Finally the list of professional representatives continues to grow although the office will continue to monitor the geographic representation of patent attorneys.
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• PGP WORLOAD AND PRODUCTION
Up to July 2019, 105 400 European patent applications (European direct applications filed in 2019 and PCT applications entering the European regional phase in 2019) were recorded. This represents a 3.8% increase over the corresponding figure of 2018.
200 000 EPO Applications
174 300 Budget 150 000 166 600 159 100 176 000
100 000 as of as of 27.08.2018 26.08.2019
50 000 101 575 105 400 (+3.8%)
0 2016 2017 2018 2019
Since January and up to the end of July 2019, the total incoming search, examination and opposition workload remained stable when compared to the same period of last year. Specifically, the Office received 141 666 search requests (+0.6%) as well as 95 387 requests for European examination (+0.3%). With the inclusion of the product orders for PCT preliminary examination, the requests for examination reach 99 012.
Until July 2019, examiners' output reached 251 552 search, examination and opposition products, 3.2% (5 278 products less) lower than the corresponding figure for 2018, but still on course to attain the target set for 2019. This was produced with an average of 89 examiners less than in the same period in 2018.
The EPO's search stock represents 3.3 months of work. This allows more examiner capacity to be focussed on examination to tackle the backlog. The examination stock is now -5.9% lower compared to end of 2018. The workload in opposition represents 15.2 months of work, i.e. around the stock level of 15 months of work which will allow the EPO to reach its opposition timeliness objective in the near future.
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The total SEO pending workload at the end of July represents 11.6 months of work compared to 12.0 months of work at the end of 2018 and to 12.5 months in July 2018. The decreasing trend of the total stock continues: -4.6% compared to end 2018 and -7.2% compared to July 2018.
At the end of July 2019, the EPO had published 80 889 European patents, 22.9% more than in the same period in 2018. The current forecast for the end of year indicates around 138 000 published patents, thus surpassing the budget plan of 125 000.
150 000 EPO Published patents
138 000 Forecast 127 623 Budget 125 000 100 000 105 635 95 940 as of 14.08.2019
64 612 68 422 as of 80 889 50 000 08.08.2018 (+23%)
65 840
0 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
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General EPO Statistics 2018 2019 difference in %
1 Total European patent applications – July 101 575 105 400 +3.8%
2a Direct European applications – July 39 959 42 492 +6.3%
2b PCT applications entering the regional phase – July 61 616 62 908 +2.1%
3 Searches carried out (Examiner products) – July 141 961 139 265 -1.9%
- of which European + supplementary + other 91 064 88 829 -2.5%
- of which International PCT searches 50 897 50 436 -0.9%
4 European examinations carried out (Examiner 110 993 106 096 -4.4% products) – July
5 International preliminary examinations carried out 4 822 3 888 -19.4% (Examiner products) – July
6 Oppositions (Examiner products) – July 2 226 2 303 +3.5%
7 Total Examiner Products DG 1 – July 260 002 251 552 -3.2%
8 SEO Time (Search, Examination, Opposition in ‘000 470.3 452.0 -3.9% days) – July
9 Patents published 65 840 80 889 +22.9%
10 Pending EPO SEO workload expressed in months 12.5 11.6 -7.2% of output – July
All production figures (items 3 to 7) are based on counts of examiner products.
Pendency (items 10) is based on stock at Directorate level and production at Directorate level (finished cases).
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• EUROPEAN PATENT REGISTER
During the period under review ca. 25% of the new cases handled by the Legal Division regarding the European Patent Register involved interruption of proceedings pursuant to Rule 142 EPC, principally due to bankruptcy. The registration of licences and security rights amounted to about 13% and requests for the exclusion of documents from file inspection remained constant at 4%.
The registration of transfers of patent applications or patents in the European Patent Register accounted for around a half of the new cases of the Legal Division's work. This exceptional increase is due to a new procedure for processing requests for registration of transfer of rights. Henceforth, requests which do not at first satisfy the requirements are forwarded immediately by the Formalities Officers to the Legal Division. This makes it possible to shorten the deadlines of the legal examination of the requirements while avoiding erroneous entries.
Apart from maintaining and improving the quality of the service, a new Register release took place in May, which included a revision of the contents and structure of the online help.
In order to help users to identify documents cited during opposition, for the files where a first opposition is filed on or after 1 July, the cited opposition documents in the file are labelled with identifiable document codes. A consolidated list showing these citations, together with their assigned reference numbers is also provided as part of the electronic file.
The European Patent Register user satisfaction survey conducted at the end of 2018 has been analysed. The overall satisfaction rate with services related to the European Patent Register remains at 93%. However, the survey identified some areas where improvements could still be made.
• REPRESENTATION BEFORE THE EPO
Highly qualified representatives contribute to the quality of the patent granting process. By mid-July 2019 the number of entries on the List of professional representatives entitled to represent parties in proceedings before the EPO had reached 12 552, an increase of approximately 4% over the previous year. In 2019, 681 candidates were successful in the European Qualifying Examination (EQE) by passing all examination papers, an increase of 29% compared to 2018. 310 of them have already been registered in the List.
The number of registered associations of professional representatives under Rule 152(11) EPC was 819 on 11 July 2019, which represents an increase of more than 7% on the previous year.
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The workload involved in the registration of general authorisations remains constantly high, because an existing stock of over 69 200 registered general authorisations has to be managed.
The almost 3000 EQE candidates per year will gradually benefit from a fully digital EQE. While the registration and enrolment of candidates is already completely electronic and the transition from paper files to a fully electronic dossier is on the way, a first pilot with 30 candidates sitting the EQE on a computer was successfully carried out this year. Next year, the pilot will be extended to 100 candidates, and it is planned to successively increase the coverage of the computerised exam to all candidates during the next three years.
So far, within the framework of the Candidate Support Project (CSP), 57 candidates from 17 member states have successfully completed the EQE. 24 new students started in the academic year 2019/20, bringing the total number accepted onto the CSP to 177. 120 students are at various stages of preparing the sitting of future EQE papers. Three member states (NO, TR, and PL) have now reached the quota of 20 CSP candidates. They will benefit from an extended support.
• QUALITY
The EPO continues to focus on delivering the highest quality products. Emphasis has been placed on identifying any quality issues early in the process and taking remedial actions swiftly. These remedial actions are both taken directly on the product itself but also include, where necessary, updates to processes and procedures and to specially focussed training measures.
A set of indicators provide the basis for our responsive Quality Management and are used to monitor the quality and drive continuous improvement. The EPO has increased the granularity of the quality indicators to focus on distinguishing more elements, such as monitoring the percentage of fully classified EP applications at publication (48%), the percentage of users dissatisfied with the Office's services (3 – 6%) and the percentage of potential errors in B-Publications (4.9%).
On the basis of the QMS audits, the Quality Board launched in 2019 the following actions:
o Improved feedback on correctness of pre-classification (both automated and manual) to ensure that applications are directed to the most competent area.
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o Better free-text communication in the formalities area to ensure that communications are clear and concise.
o Assurance of correct & complete classification at search publication.
o Reduction of the backlog of documents that need to be reclassified due to changes in the CPC classes.
o Ensure that in cases of non-unity the required minimum reasoning is provided.
o Ensure correct application of Article 123 EPC (Added Subject Matter) in Examination and Opposition.
o Correct completion of the "Druckexemplar" (the application documents forming the basis of the grant) in eDrex.
To explore various approaches to future collaboration, a pilot called "Collaborative Quality Improvement" (CQI) was launched in early 2019. The pilot started with 80 examiners and there are now 225 in the pilot. Another 15 teams joined in September. The positive feedback already given in the first report at the June Administrative Council meeting is confirmed:
o 2917 consultations held, 28% recorded quality improvements, mainly regarding inventive step, clarity and added subject-matter.
o Improvements identified match Directorate Quality Audit findings in product audit files.
o 64% of the consultations within the division are considered either useful or very useful.
o Average time invested per consultation is 41 min (total for all participants).
o Team meetings were rated as useful or very useful in discussing substantial and procedural issues based on specific files.
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In the formalities area, indicators monitoring the quality of the work are positive:
Search Grant Opposition*
Conforming files (%)
95,6% 94,9% 89,4%
Conforming files (#) 438 463 480
Completed checks 458 488 541
* Percentage of conforming files computed as average conformity amongst various aspects.
As from the 1st of April, the Operational Quality Control in Opposition has been fully implemented. Experts, who are not members of the division, check each opposition decision prior to dispatch.
Whilst the EPO is currently still assessing the first results, some trends can be highlighted: key procedural aspects of opposition are correctly treated; attention and further harmonisation may be necessary for added subject matter of the granted claims and the introduction of new relevant prior art. The results will be used to identify areas for improvement and to support discussions and training of staff.
CASE is another important component of the QMS that helps identify examiner training needs. Detailed CASE records show that the most frequently occurring issues in the proposals for grant are related to adaptation of the description. The Office is now developing training actions and to date approximately half of the examiner directorates have benefited from dedicated advanced learning sessions.
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• TIMELINESS
The median average length of time for completion of a search at the EPO is currently 4.4 months from the date of receipt of the file, compared with 4.6 months for the same period in 2018.
The different search products can be broken down as follows:
o EP direct: median average of 5.1 months from the date of receipt to the final search report (5.3 months for the same period in 2018).
o PCT searches where the EPO is the International search Authority: median average of 2.5 months from the date of receipt to the final search report (stable).
o Euro-PCTbis searches where the EPO was not the International search Authority: median average of 11.9 months from the date of receipt to the final search report (12.5 months for the same period in 2018).
o for national searches: median average of 4.5 months from the date of receipt to the final search report (4.1 months for the same period in 2018).
The median average length of time for issuing the notification of the intention to grant (IGRA) was 21.2 months from the date on which the examination started, compared with 22.5 months for the same period in 2018.
The median average length of time for an opposition division to issue its decision was 18.0 months from the expiry of the opposition period, compared to19.6 months for the same period in 2018.
The average time for the publication of patents is similar to that of 2018 at 44.1 months. The time to publication of a patent is measured from the date of entry into the European grant procedure up until the date of publication of the patent.
• DIALOGUE WITH USERS
As described in SP2023, User Satisfaction Surveys form a key element of feedback and dialogue with our users. The Office intends to engage with users to design new surveys that better reflect their needs.
This work has already begun in the SACEPO Working Party on Quality and will continue during 2019. The roll-out of the new surveys is planned for 2020 and will be conducted in all three sectors on a biennial basis, providing a more comprehensive and frequent monitoring of the quality of the EPO's PGP products.
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The EPO also continues to promote diverse interactions with users to get a better understanding of their needs:
o Key Account Managers: Key Account Managers focus on around 60 key accounts of the EPO's top applicants. They respond proactively and offer a service tailored to the individual user's needs in online filing services and patent grant procedures. They collect formal and informal feedback from their accounts on all aspects and ensure follow-up and feedback.
o Tailor made workshops for applicant needs: Various workshops on online filing tools and procedural knowledge have taken place following requests from users.
o Company visits – Incoming visits: The EPO continues to encourage visits by examiners with the aim of interacting with applicants, understanding new technologies and promoting the EPO's products and services through around 150 examiner missions.
o User enquiries and customer sentiment feedback: The User Desk monitors incoming user enquiries. From January to July 2019, 39.969 user enquiries have been resolved office-wide and 90% have met or exceded the timeliness KPI.
Each feedback has been followed up with the internal stakeholders. In particular critical feedback is sent to the individual staff member concerned and users are contacted directly for follow-up. The feedback is used to improve processes and procedures.
o SACEPO: SACEPO meetings provide an excellent platform for a comprehensive dialogue with the users addressing many aspects of the patent granting process:
• the SACEPO Working Party e-SACEPO (e-Patent Process Sacepo) took place in January 2019 and informed users about the current status of the filing tools and obtain feedback;
• the SACEPO Working Party on Guidelines dedicated to biotechnology met on 22 February 2019 where several user representatives gave their opinions about the situation with regard to Rule 28 EPC and the decision T 1063/18;
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• the SACEPO (full composition) met on 9 May 2019 where the users provided their feedback on the first draft of the Strategic Plan 2023. The Office also tabled several proposals on practical improvements such as the invitation of ad hoc experts or the use of video / web to facilitate the participation of members;
• The SACEPO Working Party on Rules met on 19 September 2019 where many items where discussed like the designation and notifications of inventors, the impact of the new Rules of Procedure of the Boards of Appeal for the examining and opposition divisions, the projects of the Office concerning streamlining of procedures and convergence of legal practices or the proposals for fee changes as of 1 April 2020.
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V. GOAL 4: BUILD A EUROPEAN PATENT SYSTEM AND NETWORK WITH A GLOBAL IMPACT
The strength of patent systems is linked inextricably to accurate and comprehensive patent information. The EPO has therefore continued to make progress in developing its patent information services, such as the continuing extension of the Federated Register and preparations for an improved version of Espacenet.
Ensuring that users have the right knowledge and skills to take full advantage of patent information and the European patent system has continued to be the focus of the European Patent Academy and PATLIBS.
In Goal 4 the EPO also aims to enhance Co-operation within Europe and with partners outside of the EPO's member states to both maximise and broaden the impact of the European Patent System. In this regard the EPO has accelerated efforts to expand the reach of the European patent system through validation agreements and reinforced cooperation.
A successful meeting in Kilkenny, followed by more than 35 technical visits to NPOs during the summer, has laid the foundations for redefining European cooperation and achieving a more effective European Patent Network. With a more cohesive European Patent Network, the EPO is better able to shape developments in the Global patent system.
• ACCESS TO PATENT INFORMATION
Federated Register and Deep Linking
The Federated Register allows users to retrieve official bibliographic and legal status information from all 30 member states and extension states participating in the Federated Register service. Other countries are currently at different stages of implementation and may be able to join the Federated Register service in the coming months. The beginning of the year brought the addition of Morocco to the list of states offering deep links to the respective file in their national patent register through the European Patent Register, bringing the number of countries on the list up to 37.
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Espacenet
Following the release of the beta version of new Espacenet in November 2018, testers have been invited to try out and explore the new Espacenet. Feedback and suggestions from more than 650 individuals has been received up to now and users still have the opportunity to do so until the full release. Improvements will be delivered through follow-up projects in the context of the implementation of the Strategic Plan. Decommissioning of the classic Espacenet will be carried out as part of SP2023 once all current functionality is delivered.
Bulletin archive
As part of the completion of the Patent Information collection, the complete collection of the European Patent Bulletin is now available as of 1978 in electronic form, in character coded PDF. Previous editions were available on paper only. The complete collection is available for consultation/ download.
Authority file
The EP authority file provides a sequential and gap-free list of all patent document publication numbers issued by the European Patent Office under the IP5 authority file specification and WIPO standard ST.37. A version in JSON format was made available with the last edition in June 2019 in addition to the existing XML and CSV versions. This commonly used format increases the usability of this reference file to the European Patent document collection.
PATSTAT Online
In order to lower the barrier for new users to get started with PATSTAT Online, a simplified beginners' interface has been introduced together with more pre-set visualisation possibilities to analyse the results retrieved.
Asian patent information
In April 2019, the EPO hosted its annual "East meets West" conference on Asian patent information in Vienna which was well attended again by more than 100 participants, providing a platform for exchange and dialogue between users of Asian patent information and experts from Asian offices.
In September, experts from the EPO's Asian Information Services gave an introduction to the EPO's patent information services at the China Patent Annual Conference (CPAC) in Beijing and the Patent Information Expo (PATINEX) in Seoul.
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Patent landscaping and patent intelligence
A series of landscape reports are being developed, aimed at demonstrating the usefulness of patent information in understanding the evolution and status of disparate, specific fields of technology. In this series, a report on CAR-T-cells was developed with support of EPO examiners and its findings were published in the prestigious journal "Nature". These reports are also published on the EPO website.
PATLIB centres
At the PATLIB Summit held in Porto at the beginning of May, representatives of PATLIB centres from across Europe adopted a set of recommendations aimed at boosting the EPO's support for the PATLIB network, and further improving services for companies, researchers and inventors. The recommendations, developed after two days of intensive conference sessions, are contained in a document called the Porto Paper. They emphasise providing a structural framework for the PATLIB network, and giving more freedom to the individual centres to expand the quality and range of the services they offer. They include measures such as:
o defining different levels of PATLIB centre and the requirements for reaching each level
o putting in place a comprehensive set of training measures
o providing means for PATLIB centres to develop into IP commercialisation advice centres, and for them to interact with other networks, such as technology transfer centres
o encouraging experts within PATLIB centres to share their knowledge with other members of the network.
• ACCESS TO PATENT KNOWLEDGE
Institutional Strengthening
A total of 20 events took place during the first three quarters of 2019 in the field of institutional strengthening, with registrations reaching full capacity levels and more than 1 100 participants attending seminars in person. The 2019 edition of the advanced distance learning course on EPOQUE Net was launched in September.
Seminars took place in different fields, such as IP pre-diagnosis (NPO capacity building), CPC and search and examination. The EPO held a recurrent expert level seminar for national patent office examiners in the three fields of Internet of things (IOT) and industry 4.0, pumps and turbines, and Fin-Tech.
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Together with the various national exchange platforms ("P07" events), expert seminars serve the purpose of a better convergence with NPOs, and a better understanding of the most recent patent related issues across Europe.
e-learning
The e-learning programme for 2019 is being implemented as outlined in the annual plan including search and examination practice for staff of national offices, use of patents in research environments (with focus on Quantum technologies) as well as dedicated recordings on CPC field-specific topics.
The EQE pre-examination course for 2018-2019 closed in March and the edition towards the examination in 2020 started in September, again with a high level of participation.
The Academy has also been preparing courses and materials for the patent profession, in coordination with epi, and for the technology transfer at TTOs for their implementation by early 2020.
Over 300 participants took part in the first joint webinar in co-operation with EUIPO, comparing design and patent protection in human-machine interfaces under the title of "Interacting with Devices in the Digital Era".
Judicial training
Training programmes, including study visits and seminars were offered. The Academy also supported training initiatives from national jurisdictions in Germany, Latvia, Norway, Slovenia and Spain. An expert workshop was organised at the beginning of July to discuss patentability issues with national judges and representatives of the Boards of Appeal. The exchange focussed on in-depth discussions on added subject matter, plausibility, and current issues in computer implemented inventions.
Innovation Support
Jointly supported training activities were organised with the Licensing Executives Society International (LESI), following the signature of a MoU in January. The first advanced two-day technology commercialisation training for SMEs took place in Basel and brought together business strategy and IP management topics.
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As part of the annual plan, the Search Matters conference took place in May in The Hague. The conference hosted 200 participants to exchange knowledge on the latest search techniques and strategies used at the Office.
Measures like the "IP for business" roadshow supported the dissemination of the SME case studies. The new roving one-day conference "Computer-implemented inventions in MedTech" was organised in Sweden reaching out to SMEs and their partners in one of the largest and fastest growing fields for EPO applications.
Academia
After the successful second call for research proposals of the EPO Academic Research Program a third call was launched including IP commercialisation and technology transfer topics. Forty-three proposals were submitted and are under a review process.
The Academia programme supported many training events run by universities ranging from IP Masters programmes and IP courses, TTOs and research centres with a focus on Pan-European Seal universities and potential ones (e.g. Cambridge University and TUM). The Academy has supported major annual conferences of European Academic IP associations like EIPIN and EPIP and European IP summer schools like TIPSA by providing mainly EPO expertise and running sessions on patents.
Several meetings have taken place with National (Netval, PraxisAuril) and European Technology Transfer Professionals Associations (ASTP-Proton) with the goal to foster co-operation and define work plans and MoUs for the future. The study visit scheme was successfully continued.
Professional Representatives
In the past months, the Academy has organised a series of seminars for patent attorneys and patent administrators at the EPO or in different cities in Europe to communicate recent changes and best practices.
The high-level two-day event "Examination Matters" in May has become the meeting place for patent attorneys dealing with the EPO in the patent granting procedure. Examiners and practitioners provide insight into the mind of the examiner and share their day-to-day work experiences. This event was once again organised in close co-operation with the European Patent Institute (epi).
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A number of seminars also organised jointly with the epi focused on opposition, appeal, and case law. The Academy developed and ran successfully two webinar series on "EPO2day 2019" and on "PCT at the EPO". An increasingly high number of lectures were held by EPO experts on request by important European stakeholders such as national and international patent attorney associations.
Relations with users
In January the EPO signed a five-year MoU with the Licensing Executives Society International (LESI) in Florida, USA. This agreement is aimed at developing joint training programmes, seminars and events for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), industry representatives, technology transfer experts, publicly funded research organisations, IP advisors, IP offices and government policymakers.
This was followed by meetings with the Chief IP Officers from some of the largest US-based applicants at the EPO, the members of the Association of Corporate Patent Counsel (ACPC) who use the European patent system, including many of the EPO's top 100 US applicants, and with the Board of Directors of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA). These meetings offered an opportunity to provide some insights into the EPO's strategy for the years ahead and gather feedback from users on what the EPO could do to better to meet their needs.
In March, the Office held several meetings with the International Federation of Intellectual Property Attorneys (FICPI), the European Federation of Intellectual Property Agents in Industry (FEMIPI) and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). Key topics were the EPO's quality measures, online consultation on increased flexibility in the timing of the examination process, and user input for the EPO Strategic Plan.
In September the President delivered a keynote speech at the IP Owners Association (IPO) at their 47th Annual Meeting in Washington, an event attended by several thousands of participants.
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• MAXIMISE IMPACT OF COOPERATION
EPO and EUIPO
In May the EPO and the EUIPO signed a new MoU reaffirming their commitment to close co-operation for users and IP offices in Europe and internationally. Under the MoU the two offices have already started to:
(i) provide joint high-quality IP training activities,
(ii) raise awareness of the IP system,
(iii) support business' use of IP in the development of innovation strategies, and
(iv) inform policymakers of the socio-economic impact of IP in Europe.
The new agreement aims at increasing the consistency of activities involving both offices and their users in existing networks and supporting the transformations envisaged in the EPO and EUIPO strategic plans. The MoU is accompanied by work plans detailing the joint projects to be carried out over the years.
The Pan-European Seal traineeship programme entered its 5th year of operation in September. 52 interns from 27 universities in 17 member states are currently gaining on-the-job professional work experience at the EPO premises. The EPO's immediate goal is to extend this partnership with as many technical universities as possible and expand the geographical scope to ensure maximum diversity. So far, the Office has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with 58 member universities and educational institutions in 25 member states.
In the first week of July, the EPO and EUIPO held the sixth edition of the IP Executive Week, this time in Alicante. This one-week event brought together representatives from 60 IP offices worldwide and expert speakers from international business and organisations to address a number of IP-related strategic issues. The participants explored the disruptive potential of exponential technologies on the workplace and how IP offices need to both adapt and manage such transformation. In addition, leadership challenges, IPR enforcement, IP in education, and other strategic aspects such as the role of IP offices in supporting the needs of innovative SMEs were discussed. Once again, the event provided a powerful catalyst for a stronger network.
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EPO and CPVO
The EPO has extended its Administrative Arrangement with the EU Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO) for another three years until 2022. Under this agreement, the EPO and the CPVO have enhanced bilateral co-operation and the exchange of information with a view to supporting innovation in the plant sector. The data exchange aims to increase transparency and quality by enabling the EPO and the national offices to utilise information available at the CPVO relating to plant varieties. In this context, the EPO has integrated a set of approximately 7 000 records into a new database which is now also available to all EPOQUE Net users in the member states.
On 1 July 2019, access to the CPVO database was activated for EPOQUE Net users from the EPO member states. The XPCPVO full-text database includes data and records from the CPVO concerning technical questionnaires registered in the Register of Applications and variety descriptions registered in the Register of Community Plant Variety Rights and are regularly updated. Training sessions are envisaged for interested member states.
Defining and prioritising Cooperation
The Strategic Plan 2023 was the focus of the Annual Meeting in Kilkenny in May. 72 representatives from 39 member states and extension states, thereof 26 heads of offices paid special attention to the Key Initiative 4 of Goal 4: Define and prioritise co-operation activities. Presentations and discussions focused on the topics of IT-related co-operation, knowledge co-operation and convergence of practices.
As regards IT co-operation, the Office presented an initial list of potential new projects to the participants. Topics discussed within the scope of knowledge co- operation included the support for paralegals and patent administrators, training in patent intelligence, and enhancing current areas of co-operation. Concerning convergence of practice, participants looked into issues such as examination of unity of invention, accordance of priority date and designation of inventor.
The annual meeting also provided the opportunity to exchange on a methodology for the administration and implementation of the co-operation strategy, and on how to make co-operation more effective by overcoming present financial and procedural shortcomings.
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Immediately after the unanimous approval of the Strategic Plan 2023 by the Council in July, the Office began to visit the member states in order to analyse, together with the respective national offices, the state of play of their existing IT projects and future co-operation needs in the IT area and beyond, providing the opportunity to reflect on the upcoming Strategic Plan programmes. More than 35 visits took place so far. A full report on the outcomes will be provided in the next reports to the Council.
Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court
The constitutional complaint against the German ratification bill is still pending before the Federal Constitutional Court in Germany. The complaint is listed amongst the cases to be decided in the present calendar year. Currently, 16 Member States have ratified the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (UPCA).
As for the Protocol on Provisional Application of the UPCA (PPA), Austria has signed the PPA earlier this year. With the exception of Germany, only one ratification is outstanding, in order to reach the required number for the PPA to enter into force. This will trigger the period of provisional application of the UPCA, during which the required legal, administrative and financial arrangements will be put into place, and the judges will be appointed.
The EPO continues to strongly promote and support the take-off and success of the Unitary Patent package, which is vital for the competitiveness of Europe and in particular SMEs.
• BROADEN THE IMPACT OF THE PATENT SYSTEM
Validation and reinforced partnerships
In January Jordan requested the opening of negotiations on a validation agreement with the EPO. This is the tenth country or IP organisation to initiate negotiations on the validation scheme with the Office, following Morocco, Moldova, Tunisia and Cambodia (currently validation states) and Angola, Brunei Darussalam, Georgia, the Lao PDR and the OAPI.
Negotiations with Georgia ended in June and the signature of the agreement is due in October. Several other negotiations are in progress and it seems possible that some of them will be concluded in the course of 2020. This will further expand the geographical coverage of the European patent system beyond Europe.
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The EPO's new co-operation framework for non-member states, the Reinforced Partnership, is expanding rapidly. Following the signature of the first MoU of its kind with South Africa last year, the Office also launched such a partnership with the Ethiopian Intellectual Property Office (EIPO) in April and with the National Institute of Industrial Property of Argentina (INPI) in July.
This wide-reaching co-operation programme seeks to establish long-term partnerships with selected non-member states in strategic and technical areas of mutual interest in the field of patents. The aim of the programme is to further integrate and strengthen the global patent system by extending the network of partner offices that are increasing their capacities, productivity and quality through the systematic utilisation of EPO work products, tools and standards. The technical co-operation activities with Ethiopia and Argentina within this programme are expected to commence soon.
Further MoUs on Reinforced Partnership are under way. The Office is in advanced negotiations with several large IP offices in Africa, Latin America and South East Asia.
In July the EPO and INPI Brazil signed a declaration of intent in Munich, in which they commit to start discussions envisaging the signature of a Reinforced Partnership agreement. The intention is to implement a pilot project in order to promote domestic capacity building at INPI by supporting and enhancing INPI's national patent search and examination procedure to the maximum extent practicable. The two offices also signed a new agreement giving access to 170 users of INPI Brazil to EPOQUE Net for the coming five years.
Favouring the concept of regional co-operation, in July, the Office hosted the first- ever meeting with the Community of Portuguese speaking countries (CPLC) and the regional IP organisations in Africa. The main objective was to make an assessment of co-operation opportunities within the group of countries which speak the same language and to take stock of the needs for support to their national patent systems. The meeting was attended by representatives of IP offices from three different continents, namely Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé & Principe. ARIPO and OAPI represented the two regional IP organisations in Africa.
In September Andrei Iancu, Undersecretary of Commerce and Director of the USPTO, made a return visit to Munich to visit the EPO President. The two heads of office discussed recent developments in IP Policy, also at EU level.
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Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH)
The PPH has established itself as a widely used, applicant-driven work-sharing scheme. It provides in particular European applicants simplified and cost-efficient access to accelerated prosecution elsewhere on the basis of high quality EPO work products indicating patentable claims. The EPO is currently considering implementing the PPH as a permanent scheme.
The network of the EPO PPH partner offices is continuously expanding. The latest addition was the National Institute for the Defence of Free Competition and the Protection of Intellectual Property (INDECOPI) of Peru. The relevant Memorandum of Understanding was signed in Geneva on the margins of the WIPO General Assemblies and the pilot programme is expected to be implemented early January 2020.
Furthermore, with effect from 1 July 2019, the EPO extended its PPH pilot programme with IP Australia for an additional three years until 30 June 2022.
The PPH participation figures at the EPO continue to show a steady increase. By the end of Q2 2019 the total number of incoming PPH requests had reached 12 108. The majority of these requests have been filed on the basis of a PCT work product. In terms of origin, JP applicants continue to account for the highest number of requests, followed by users from the US.
At the same time, over 22 250 PPH requests have been made since inception of the programme on the basis of an EPO work product elsewhere. Most European applicants tend to use the PPH before the USPTO.
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USA 4 685 Japan 5 856 China 752 Korea 450 Canada 162 Israel 109 Australia 40 Mexico 4 Russia 28 Singapore 18 Colombia 1 Eurasian 2 Brazil 1 Malaysia 0 Number of incoming PPH requests Philippines 0 Total 12 108 0 2 000 4 000 6 000
USA 10 956 Japan 4 442 China 3 036 Korea 1 823 Canada 773 Israel 393 Australia 335 Mexico 238 Russia 235 Singapore 14 Colombia 22 Eurasian 9 Brazil 0 Malaysia 0 Number of outgoing PPH requests Philippines 0 Total 22 276 0 4 000 8 000 12 000
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• IP5 CO-OPERATION
In January the EPO hosted the sixth meeting of the IP5 Global Dossier Task Force (GDTF) and the third meeting of the IP5 Industry Consultation Group (ICG) in The Hague. Discussions focused on further improvements to Global Dossier content and feedback from the IP5 Industry on existing Global Dossier services. Seamless access to cited non-patent literature (NPL) remained a top priority for users, and IP5 Industry saw clear benefits in the EPO's proposal to enhance NPL citation data exchange via digital object identifiers (DOIs) or other appropriate identifiers.
At their twelfth meeting held in Incheon, Korea in June, the IP5 Heads of Office endorsed the progress and next steps in IP5 initiatives related to the classification of emerging technologies, the Global Dossier, the alignment of patent practices and procedures, enhanced work-sharing and statistics exchanges. The IP5 offices decided to advance their co-operation in the areas of new emerging technologies (NET) and artificial intelligence (AI). Most notably, the IP5 Heads agreed to set up an IP5 task force on these areas to coordinate IP5 initiatives and develop a roadmap for possible joint projects.
In a subsequent separate meeting with IP5 Industry, the IP5 Heads of Office reported on recent developments and sought dialogue on IP topics of strategic nature, such as NET and AI and the future focus and sustainability of IP5 co- operation.
At their recent meeting in June the IP5 Heads of Office endorsed the successful finalisation of the Patent Harmonisation Expert Panel (PHEP) agenda including the items unity of invention (EPO/CNIPA-led), citation of prior art (KIPO/USPTO-led) and written description/sufficiency of disclosure (JPO led).
Particular reference is made to the significant results achieved in the area of unity of invention. The IP5 Offices developed a common methodology defining the steps to be followed by the individual examiner to assess whether an international application comprises unitary subject matter, and the minimum requirements for a reasoning in case lack of unity is identified. This agreed, common approach will directly benefit users by enhancing transparency and predictability. Most notably it is significant as it is currently not available in the PCT International Search and Preliminary Examination Guidelines (ISPE).
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In consultation with IP5 Industry, work is already underway regarding the expansion of the application of this methodology outside the framework of the IP5. A follow-up to the Meeting of International Authorities under the Patent Co- operation Treaty (PCT MIA) is ongoing with a view to potentially integrating this methodology into the relevant chapter of the ISPE Guidelines.
Currently, the IP5 Offices and Industry are working together towards the formulation of the future PHEP work plan. It is understood that the PHEP should focus on topics of administrative/procedural nature. Additionally, candidate topics should be manageable and offer attainable perspectives for practice alignment, while topic proposals put forward by IP5 Industry should be fit for purpose and outline "clear business cases", i.e. arguments why certain topics should be addressed and what type of solutions are expected.
The IP5 Heads of Office endorsed the common, harmonised PPH metrics that were developed under the lead of the EPO and JPO. These metrics take into account the specific procedural features of the IP5 Offices and will support greater transparency and uniformity in the monitoring and reporting of PPH procedural data. The IP5 Offices are currently testing the application of these definitions also in terms of consistency with other metrics applied and will adjust them as necessary, prior to sharing them with a wider circle of interested offices maintaining PPH programmes.
Finally, the IP5 pilot on PCT Collaborative Search and Examination (CS&E) lead by the EPO is going according to plan. Under that concept, the main ISA shares its draft search reports and written opinions with the other four ISAs which in turn provide their peer contributions. These are taken into consideration by the main ISA prior to issuing the final international search report. The pilot is user-driven which means that applicants must request that their application be treated under the collaborative scheme.
The pilot is due to last until 2021. More than 230 CS&E files have been accepted into the pilot between July 2018 and June 2019, including 44 at the EPO. An even higher number will be accepted between July 2019 and June 2020 with a view to reach the total amount of 500 CS&E files altogether, including 100 at the EPO. Files are mostly in English but also in the other official languages of the IP5 Offices e.g. French and German at the EPO. Users have shown great interest in participating in the pilot so far.
The next meeting of the IP5 PHEP is scheduled to take place late October 2019.
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Cooperative Patent Classification
The globally expanding CPC system has been adopted by 29 patent organisations so far, including the EPO and the USPTO. 16 offices are delivering CPC data to the EPO on a regular basis.
The national offices of 16 EPO member states (AT, CH, CZ, DK, EE, ES, FI, GB, GR, HU, NL, NO, PL, PT, SE, TR) have expressed their intention to adopt the CPC as their internal classification scheme. For nine of them (AT, CH, ES, FI, GB, GR, NO, PT, SE), CPC data is delivered to the EPO and uploaded into the Office's databases.
To date 11 non-member states have formally signed a MoU on CPC (AR, AU, BR, CA, CL, CN, EA, IL, KR, MX and RU), seven of which are already classifying in CPC and delivering CPC data to the EPO (BR, CN, EA, KR, IL, MX and RU).
The CNIPA is now delivering CPC data on a bi-monthly basis in production mode. By 30 June, it had delivered CPC data on around 4.2 million publications for uploading to the EPO's databases. KIPO has already provided CPC classifications for close to 1.7 million publications to date. KIPO completed the reclassification of its complete back-file in the CPC at the end of 2018.
A three-week CPC field-specific training session was held in Munich in May for a group of CNIPA and KIPO examiners and classifiers, who were trained in the CPC in 15 technical areas of high relevance. A similar session was organised in The Hague for September, covering another 15 technical fields.
In June a three-day collective field-specific training session was organised for national offices in Munich, providing CPC classification training in 15 different technical fields. The course's presentations, which included theory and examples, were recorded to produce distance learning material.
After several years of development, the new database infrastructure resulting from the CPC International project was deployed in August. The new architecture remains based on two databases (one belonging to the EPO and one belonging to the USPTO) but is hosted in the cloud, and is synchronised with a more modern and reliable technology. Besides being one of the very first projects which is deployed in the cloud, this will allow the EPO to add further features to the CPC system (all CPC symbols at the family level, new displaying of the CPC information, support to the reclassification, etc.).
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Strengthening the PCT
In the first half of 2019, the Office pursued its efforts to improve its PCT services for both applicants and Offices:
First, the PCT paperless service launched in 2016 ensures the automated transmittal of search copies and subsequent documents from receiving Offices to the EPO as International Searching Authority (ISA) via WIPO. So far in 2019, Cuba, Egypt, Greece, the Philippines and Serbia have joined, thus bringing the total number of Offices benefitting from the PCT paperless service to 39 by 1 August 2019. In addition to saving resources at the receiving Offices concerned and at the EPO, this service also benefits PCT users by supporting EPO's efforts to issue international search reports on time for the A1 publication at 18 months (96.5% in 2018). The service is being progressively extended as it is intended to have all receiving Offices in the PCT Paperless service by 2020.
Second, the pilot on the netting of PCT fees launched in 2018 provides that the participating receiving Offices transfer international search fees to WIPO, and that all PCT fees due by either the EPO or WIPO to each other are offset with only one single transfer a month. This makes the financial operation of the PCT system more efficient for all Offices concerned. By June 2019, 32 Offices have joined the EPO-WIPO netting system. The scheme is progressively extended to more receiving Offices with the aim of having the netting system in place with all receiving Offices by the end of 2020. In that regard, the PCT Working Group has agreed at its last session (June 2019) to introduce a legal basis in the PCT covering this activity. This will make it easier for certain Offices to join the new service.
Progress has been made by the Task Force on PCT Minimum Documentation. It aims at reviewing the requirements to be eventually complied by International Authorities when performing PCT search. The Task Force had so far only worked within an electronic forum but this work reached its limits. The first physical meeting of the Task Force was thus conveyed and hosted by the EPO in Munich last May, with the participation of a dozen of PCT Authorities. The meeting confirmed the long term goals and allowed for better assessment of the various aspects which need to be tackled for the inclusion of patent collections and non- patent literature into the PCT Minimum Documentation.
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Substantive Patent Law Harmonisation
The substantive patent law harmonisation process has seen some progress this year. The EPO continues to act as a facilitator in this process, and a meeting was organised with the harmonisation working group of BusinessEurope at the EPO in February to discuss harmonisation issues in substantive detail. In June 2019, the Industry Trilateral issued updated summary charts on the grace period and prior user rights, and they appear to have finalised their work on conflicting applications. The Industry Trilateral is preparing several further documents bringing them closer to the completion of their package of norms, for consideration and discussion at the B+ Sub-Group meeting in Geneva in October.
VI. GOAL 5: SECURE LONG-TERM SUSTAINABILITY
The overall aim of SP2023 is to create an organisation that is capable of balancing the needs of all its stakeholders, as underlined in Goals 1 to 4. However, if the EPO is to be a truly sustainable organisation, it needs to put in place a series of measures that will secure its long-term future. Progress in achieving the aims of Goal 5 has therefore included reporting exercises that ensure the EPO's accountability, improved transparency through more comprehensive reporting on its activities through annual reports and public events, and achievements of the EPO in the area of environmental protection. Furthermore, Corporate Governance has also been strengthened to ensure coordination of the project management framework through which SP2023 is to be implemented.
In addition, and given the central importance of financial sustainability, the EPO has undertaken an extensive financial study to assess the development of the finances of the EPO by evaluating four scenarios for the coming 20 years.
• STRENGTHENING CORPORATE LEVEL GOVERNANCE
In June the President and the President of the Boards of Appeal signed a Memorandum of Understanding to sustain and strengthen the organisational autonomy of the BoA. The agreement better regulates the access of the BoA to the legal, financial and administrative services of the Office, and allows possible Service Level Agreements to be introduced. In addition, the respective roles on topics such as external communication, policy consultation and means to resolve disagreements are clarified.
All the actions formulated to bring the strategic goals and key initiatives into reality are being channelled into programmes, projects and tracked activities that will follow specific project management directions for implementation and reporting. A PMO is coordinating the project management framework through which SP2023 is to be executed.
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A tailored methodology has been put in place to specify the characteristics and requirements for each of the building blocks (programmes, projects, tracked activities) making up the portfolio. It defines the stages of the life-cycle of projects, outlines the roles and responsibilities of the stakeholders involved, delineates the main reporting components and shapes the conditions for proper benefits, budget and risk management.
KPIs tracking the performance of SP2023 implementation have been defined and are being set up so they can be monitored as of the start of 2020. The preparation of an annual work plan of the strategic activities is also in progress with dedicated workshops engaging all the key stakeholders.
• ACCOUNTABILITY AND REPORTING
In March 2019, the EPO published its Annual Report 2018, generating 1 770 media reports, including 59 newswire, 399 print, 1 279 online and 33 TV/radio reports after the first four weeks. While the total was slightly below the previous year's (Annual report 2017: 2053 clippings), the quality and relevance of the coverage clearly increased. There was more coverage by influential tier-1 media, such as national newspapers (print clippings up 18% over last year), radio and television broadcasters (+230%), and news agencies/wire services (+68%).
The social media campaign reached new record highs with nearly 815 000 users being exposed to EPO's messages, over 4 500 conversations, almost 11 000 clicks, more than 275 000 video views, as well as 3 600 interactions on annual results related content. Consequently, the Advertising Equivalent Value (AEV) of the campaign rose from EUR 5.3 million in 2018 to EUR 5.87 million.
For the third time in a row, the EPO published its Quality Report to provide its users and stakeholders with a fully transparent view of its efforts towards quality. The report covers the entire scope of the current Quality Management System. For each process step, it provides data and reports on actions taken to improve quality or to take user feedback into account. Wherever possible, it reports on measurements relating to the three sectors Mobility and Mechatronics (M&M); Healthcare, Biotechnology and Chemistry (HBC) and Information and Communications Technology (Sector ICT). Each process chapter further includes an outlook as to what is planned for 2019. In this report more detailed information from our satisfaction surveys is given.
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Overall satisfaction continues to be at a very high level. Listening to and engaging more with users on continuous improvement will be the focus under SP2023. The report also provides more detail about the 2018 results of the quality audits, which are lower than in previous years. Actions taken to reverse the trend are also included.
• EUROPEAN INVENTOR AWARD
Through the European Inventor Award, the EPO promotes the role that patents and the European patent system play in supporting technological progress, innovation, economic prosperity and job creation. The EIA has maintained its place on the annual agenda of media journalists focusing on innovation, as the results of the media campaign and large turnout of journalists at the event clearly prove.
The European Inventor Award 2019 ceremony took place in Vienna on 20 June. The Award Ceremony at the Wiener Stadthalle was attended by more than 600 guests. For the first time in the history of the EIA, the EPO partnered with a free TV channel (Servus TV) for a live broadcast of the ceremony. Almost 50 journalists registered to report on-site from the European Inventor Award ceremony, representing 17 countries, including Japan (Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun). Almost 200 interviews were conducted with the finalists on-site in Vienna.
The event generated a total of 2 229 media reports, including 54 news agency reports, 386 print articles, 1 725 online articles and 64 TV or radio broadcasts. The EPO's social media posts reached over 22 million users, an increase of 950% compared to last year.
There was a 1 300% increase in the number of interactions (likes, shares, comments) on our posts compared to the same period last year. The EPO's short videos were seen by over 13 million users in the first month after the launch of the social media campaign. These soaring numbers underline the vast potential of the EIA for engagement of the public.
Until 1 August the coverage of the 2019 Award generated an Advertising Equivalent Value (AEV) of some EUR 19.3 million, compared to EUR 16.4 million in the same period last year, the highest AEV achieved so far in a media campaign of the EPO. The next European Inventor Award will take place in Monaco. The Award ceremony is planned for 18 June 2020.
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• CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY
In the summer, the Office signed also a Memorandum of Understanding with the Deutsches Museum to strengthen a technology related partnership. The collaboration aims to enhance understanding of the value of technological innovation, science and Intellectual Property system for the society and economy in Europe.
The Office commissioned an update of the studies conducted in 2009 and 2010 to assess the impact of its sites in The Hague and in Munich and Berlin on the regional economies. The revision confirms the significant contributions of the EPO sites to the local and regional economies both in The Netherlands and in Germany and proves the sites to be important assets to the communities.
The New Main building of the EPO in The Hague has been named "Best Tall Office Building" by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), an internationally recognised arbiter on tall buildings, at an international competition held in Shanghai in April. The distinction was covered widely in the international and European architectural and mainstream press.
In July, the event "Listen and Learn" presented the occasion for the Office to engage in a dialogue with young opinion leaders of the TEDxYoung@München community and to gain the views of young people on innovation, role of Intellectual Property rights and sustainability.
Environmental Sustainability
The achievements of the EPO in the area of environmental protection were reported to the Council in CA/33/19 (Environmental Report).
The EPO will participate in the "Klimapakt", an initiative of the City of Munich to bundle and promote the climate protection activities of Munich's major companies and organisations.
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Economists from the EPO and EUIPO published jointly a report exploring the link between IP activities and the growth expectations for the European SMEs. The report analyses the importance of intellectual property rights for high-growth firms (HGFs) and whether a stronger use of intellectual property rights increases the probability of SMEs to become HGFs.
• FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY
The Financial Study 2019 started in December 2018 and was finalised at the beginning of May 2019. In this period of time, the external consultant, in co- operation with the EPO, established the framework of the financial position and expected development of the finances of the EPO by evaluating four scenarios for the coming 20 years.
The scenarios are determined by expectations - within a reasonable range – of the development of macro-economic parameters, mainly the incoming workload of EPO patent applications and the performance of the financial markets that are relevant for the assets of the pensions and other social security benefits of the EPO.
As a result in three out of four scenarios, the EPO will face a financing deficit between its assets and liabilities at the end of the period under scrutiny. Unless an optimistic development growth rate of patent applications coupled with favourable interest rate developments will materialise in the next 20 years (Optimistic scenario), the scenarios Economic recovery, Economic Cycle and Stress, all indicate a negative financial position in respect of the coverage of the long term liabilities by adequate assets in 2038, ranging between EUR 1.6bn and EUR 4.8bn deficit (coverage gap).
The Study was complemented by a series of communications with the aim of raising and increasing the awareness of the EPO staff and stakeholders as to the financial situation at the EPO and its drivers.
The Study itself was published; in addition, a video presentation followed by a live broadcast with questions and answers has been actively followed by staff; frequently asked questions have been collected, answered and published on the dedicated Intranet site; a deep-dive explanatory video presentation on the complex topic of pensions, and specific presentations on the background of the Study and its results have been published.
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Furthermore, the Financial Study has been presented to the Budget and Finance Committee and to the Administrative Council in its respective sessions of May and June 2019 as well as in a direct presentation and discussion to/with the Central Staff Committee. Communication with the stakeholders and discussions on the possible further measures will commence in Quarter 4, 2019.
The EPO Treasury Investment Fund (EPOTIF) was launched on 2 July 2018. The transition of the bonds portfolio of the Office into the target asset allocation, as well as an additional transfer of EUR 200m to the EPOTIF, was completed by the end of December 2018. No further transfers have been made so far in 2019.
In the first half of 2019, EPOTIF generated a profit of EUR 206m. The fund performance in this period was 8.4%, slightly below the benchmark of 8.7%. As at 30 June 2019 the total value of assets invested in EPOTIF was EUR 2.666m and the total return since inception was EUR 109m.
At the end of Q2 2019, the major EPOTIF risk measure ‒ 1 year Value at Risk (95% confidence level) was 6.1% of the Net Assets Value which was below the benchmark VaR of 7.2% and well below the 20% limit defined in the EPO Investment Guidelines.
In the first half of 2019 the President participated in two meetings of the Financial Advisory Committee in which the EPOTIF asset managers presented their strategic market outlook for 2019-2020. The Committee discussed the strategic asset allocation of the EPOTIF in the context of the current economic conditions.
In July 2019 the EPO has launched an external audit of the EPOTIF, covering asset managers, administration company (Master KVG) and the custodian bank. The results are expected to be available in September 2019.
VII. RECOMMENDATION FOR PUBLICATION
Yes.
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