How is the European Patent Office supporting innovation in Europe? Enrique Molina Galan BIO2009, 19 May 2009 Director Biotechnology 19-06-2009 European Patent Organisation Member states: • A European intergovernmental Austria • Belgium • Bulgaria • Croatia institution, but • Cyprus • Czech Republic • Denmark • Estonia • Finland • France • • not an EU institution Germany • Greece • Hungary • Iceland • Ireland • Italy • Latvia • Liechtenstein • Lithuania •Self-financing, i.e. revenue •Luxembourg • Former Yugoslav from fees covers operating Republic of Macedonia • Malta • and capital expenditure Monaco • Netherlands • Norway • Poland • Portugal • Romania • Slovakia • Slovenia • Spain • Sweden • 35 member states • Switzerland • Turkey • United Kingdom • a market of over 500 M citizens 01.07.09: San Marino Extension agreements: • Single procedure & language Albania • Bosnia-Herzegovina • Serbia A bit of History § 1973 Diplomatic conference setting up EPC § 1977 EPC enters into force § 1978 EPO starts operating and receives first European applications § 2000 Diplomatic conference performs the first comprehensive overhaul of EPC; EPC 2000 § 2007 EPC 2000 enters into force Structure of the European Patent Organisation European Patent Organisation European Patent Office Administrative Council The executive body The legislative body § responsible for examining § made up of delegates European patent from the member states applications § supervises the activities of the Office § has a specific legislative function Structure of the European Patent Office President Presidential area Alison Brimelow Directorates-General Operations Operational Appeals Administration Legal/International Support Affairs Thomas Hammer Peter Vermeij Peter Messerli Brian McGinley Wim van der Eijk (ad interim) (ad interim) Search Patent Administration Appeals Personnel European and International Affairs Substantive Examination Quality Management General Administration International Legal Affairs and Opposition Information Management Language Service Patent Law Patent Information Legal Services European Patent Academy Status: January 2009 Number of staff and locations Munich 3 629 The Hague 2 659 Berlin 276 Vienna 117 Brussels 4 Total 6 685 Around 60% (3990) are Headquarters are in Munich patent examiners Applications filed EPO-wide 63013 Direct European filings 62 755 61 133 83548 PCT applications entering the 78 684 regional phase 74 296 0 80 000 2006 2007 2008 Applications by residence of applicant (2007) Others JP 9.9% 16.3% DE 17.9% US 25.3% FR 5.9% NL 5.0% GB CH 3.5% Other member states IT 4.2% 8.9% 3.1% The EPO & Its role in innovation Right balance is essential! §Protection §Disclosure § Incentive to innovate § Sharing knowledge § Return on investment § Stepping stone § Better market position § Innovation leaps Apply high patent standards! EPO'S Mission statement §As the Patent Office for Europe, we support innovation, competitiveness and economic growth across Europe through a commitment to high quality and efficient services delivered under the EPC Cornerstones to assure Quality and Efficiency §Granting with high presumption of validity – enabling disclosures – undisputed inventive contribution – commensurate scope of protection §Timeliness of grant procedure – dealing with increasing amounts of workload – minimising procedural delays – minimise legal uncertainty as early as possible Quality at the EPO: four key ingredients Highly skilled / specialised examiners Rigorous controls and Thorough and commitment to improvement Quality consistent procedures • Examining division • Operational Quality Control Comprehensive search documentation • Quality Audit • User satisfaction survey Overview of European patent grant procedure (I) Early indication of patentability prospect: • enables early informed European Refusal or Validation in patent decisions by applicant withdrawal designated Applicant application • third parties and public of application states better aware of prospects of application Filing and Search and search Substantive Grant of formalities report together examination European EPO examination with preliminary patent opinion on patentability Publication of application and search report Publication Public of patent domain Online access to application file and specification legal status information Overview of European patent grant procedure (II) New option for applicants to limit scope or revoke patent ab initio Refusal of application Applicant Limitation or revocation Substantive Grant of proceedings Appeal EPO examination European proceedings patent Opposition proceedings Fate of the biotech applications from search to grant Opposition rejected % started Patent 31.5% 38.3% revoked Opposition 2 30.2% Grants 35 Patent maintained in amended form withdrawals 30 Upward trend Refusal 5 Request for examination 70 Searches 100 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 Danger: Ever growing number of pending applications 6 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 3 Pending 0 0 0 100.000 0 0 2 applications: 0 0 more 0 0 years 0 every 1 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 01-May-03 01-Aug-03 01-Nov-03 01-Feb-04 01-May-04 01-Aug-04 01-Nov-04 01-Feb-05 N e 01-May-05 F w in P is 01-Aug-05 h T e e h L n d a 01-Nov-05 in d e e in x t 4 g c a is 01-Feb-06 a m 7 p i 5 01-May-06 a n 0 c e i rs 01-Aug-06 ty !! 01-Nov-06 01-Feb-07 Growing (37.500 01-May-07 01-Aug-07 gap p.a.) 01-Nov-07 01-Feb-08 "Raising the Bar" Goal: § Improving the quality of incoming patent applications and streamlining the grant proceedings. Raising the Bar: Meassures entering into force on 01.04.2010 – when deemed appropriate the search can be restricted to one independent claim per category; – where a meaningful search is not possible, the applicant will be invited to clarify the subject-matter to be searched § Examination will be limited to searched subject matter – a response to the search opinion will be mandatory – amendments and their basis shall be clearly identified – amendments at applicants initiative are restricted – All that with associated (tight) time limits and severe sanctions (deemed withdrawn) Divisionals § time limits for the filing of divisional applications as of April 2010 § voluntary divisional applications: twenty-four months from the Examining Division's first communication in respect of the earliest application for which such a communication has been issued § mandatory divisional applications: to be filed within a period of two years from the first objection of lack of unity Workload sharing and avoiding duplication §European level – with National Patent Offices § EPN (European Patent Network) § UPP (Utilisation Pilot Project) §Worldwide – Trilateral; USPTO, JPO, EPO – IP5: As above plus SIPO and KIPO (Chinese and Korean Patent Offices) IP5: Foundation Projects Developing common tools among the 5 Offices to support work-sharing: § Common documentation database § Common hybrid classification § Sharing and documenting search strategies § Common search and examination support tools § Common access to search and examination results § Common training policy § Mutual machine translation § Common application format § Common rules for examination practice and quality control § Common statistical parameter system for examination Further collaboration initiatives § Triway § PPH (Patent Prosecution Highway) – bilateral agreements And of course: §PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) – preferred option with a developed and well known infrastructure and procedures. Need more information? Visit us at Booth 4254, Hall B4 Join us for a typical Bavarian breakfast at the Omni Hotel, Pine Room tomorrow 20th May from 6:00 to 7:30 am [email protected] www.epo.org [email protected].