Transcript The European Patent Office An introduction to the EPO and the European patent system Adapted and presented by: Branka Lakić, patent examiner Email:

The European Patent Office
An introduction to the EPO and the European patent system
Adapted and presented by: Branka Lakić, patent examiner
Email: [email protected]
06/11/2015
Contents
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Patents
About us
What we do
Quality
Facts and figures
What is a patent?
 A patent is a legal title granting its holder the
right to prevent third parties from commercially
using an invention without authorisation.
 In return for this protection, the holder has to
disclose the invention to the public.
 Protection is granted:
– for a limited period, generally 20 years
– for a specific geographic area
What is patentable?
 To be patentable, an invention must:
– have a technical character (e.g. comprise a product, process or apparatus)
– be new
– involve an inventive step
– be industrially applicable
 Some innovations are not patentable under the EPC:
– for example, mathematical methods or formulae, computer programs and
business methods are as such not regarded as inventions
– new plant or animal varieties and inventions whose commercial exploitation
would be contrary to "ordre public" or morality (e.g. the cloning of human life)
are examples of inventions excluded from patentability
The benefits of patents
For inventors, patents can
 help safeguard financial returns from the commercial exploitation of the invention
 give holders time to recoup their development costs
 encourage further investment in R&D
Contents
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Patents
About us
What we do
Quality
Facts and figures
The European Patent Convention
 The European Patent Convention (EPC)
– provides the legal framework for the granting of European patents
via a centralised procedure
– establishes the European Patent Organisation
 1973 – Diplomatic Conference in Munich ► signature of the EPC by 16 countries
 1977 – Entry into force of the EPC in 7 countries -
marked as follows
Structure of the European Patent Organisation
European Patent Organisation
European Patent Office
Administrative Council
The executive body
The legislative body
 responsible for examining
European patent
applications
 made up of delegates
from the member states
 supervises the activities
of the Office
 has a specific legislative
function
35 member states
Austria • Belgium • Bulgaria • Croatia •
Cyprus • Czech Republic • Denmark •
Estonia • Finland • France • Germany •
Greece • Hungary • Iceland • Ireland •
Italy • Latvia • Liechtenstein • Lithuania •
Luxembourg • Former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia • Malta •
Monaco • Netherlands • Norway •
Poland • Portugal • Romania • Slovakia •
Slovenia • Spain • Sweden •
Switzerland • Turkey • United Kingdom
European patent applications and patents
can also be extended at the applicant's
request to the following states:
Albania • Bosnia-Herzegovina • Serbia
Status: January 2009
Autonomy
 Not an EU institution
 Self-financing, i.e. revenue
from fees covers operating
and capital expenditure
Locations
The EPO has offices at
five different locations.
Its headquarters are in Munich.
Number of staff
Munich
3 629
The Hague
2 659
Berlin
276
Vienna
117
Brussels
Total
Status: December 2008
4
6 685
Around 60% are
patent examiners
Staff from 32 different countries
Country
Country
Number of staff
Number of staff
AT
Austria
237
IS
Iceland
BE
Belgium
357
IT
Italy
BG
Bulgaria
30
LI
Liechtenstein
1
CH
Switzerland
69
LT
Lithuania
4
CY
Cyprus
8
LU
Luxembourg
CZ
Czech Republic
20
LV
Latvia
4
DE
Germany
1 807
MT
Malta
2
DK
Denmark
74
NL
Netherlands
EE
Estonia
6
PL
Poland
56
ES
Spain
426
PT
Portugal
85
FI
Finland
48
RO
Romania
107
FR
France
1 190
SE
Sweden
124
GB
United Kingdom
514
SI
Slovenia
14
GR
Greece
160
SK
Slovakia
15
HR
Croatia
2
TR
Turkey
26
HU
Hungary
25
Others
3
IE
Ireland
82
Total
Status: December 2008
1
497
73
618
6 685
Contents
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Patents
About us
What we do
Quality
Facts and figures
Our role in the European patent system
 We provide patent protection in up to 38 European countries based on
a single application in one of the three official languages (German, English, French)
European patent applications can be filed:
– direct with the EPO
– via the national patent offices of the contracting states
– based on an international (PCT) application
 We are also responsible for
– limitation and revocation proceedings by patentees
– opposition proceedings by third parties
– appeal proceedings before the Boards of Appeal
Our role in the international (PCT) system
 We process international patent
applications
– we act as a receiving office for
international applications (PCT)
– we carry out international search and
preliminary examination procedures
Other services
 Free online services
– filing
– fee payment
– file inspection
– tracking of legal status of applications
 Free patent information services
– online access to all European patent documents (updated weekly)
– simple online searches in our database of over 60 million patent applications
– helpdesk staffed by experts on the Japanese, Chinese and Korean patent
systems
– http://ep.espacenet.com; http://hr.espacenet.com
 Training
– conferences
– workshops and seminars
– e-learning
Overview of European patent grant procedure (I)
Applicant
EPO
European
patent
application
Filing and
formalities
examination
Search and search
report together
with preliminary
opinion on patentability
Refusal or
withdrawal
of application
Validation in
designated
states
Substantive
examination
Grant of
European
patent
Publication of application and search report
Public
domain
Online access to application file and
legal status information
Observations by third parties possible
Publication
of patent
specification
Overview of European patent grant procedure (II)
Applicant
EPO
Refusal of
application
Substantive
examination
Grant of
European
patent
Limitation or
revocation
proceedings
Opposition
proceedings
Public
domain
Opposition by
third parties
possible
Appeal
proceedings
Content of a patent application
 Request for the grant of a
European patent
 Description of the invention
 Claims
 Drawings
 Abstract.
Search report
 Listing of the state of the art
documents along with publication
data (applicant, publication date)
 A letter code (X, Y, A) identifying
relation to the application
 An indication of the most relevant
parts of documents
How much a European patent costs
 Fees for
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•
•
•
•
•
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filing,
search,
designation of states,
claims (if more than fifteen),
examination,
grant and
printing
 Average EUR 4 920 (or EUR 4 840 if the application was filed online) to take
a patent application with seven or more designated states through to the grant
stage.
 Translation and maintenance fees
Contents
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Patents
About us
What we do
Quality
Facts and figures
Highly skilled examiners
 Top-level engineers and scientists
– high degree of technical expertise
– knowledge of the EPO's three official languages
 Training during first two years
– extensive legal and procedural training
– individual coaching by experienced examiners
Contents
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Patents
About us
What we do
Quality
Facts and figures
Comprehensive search documentation
 World's largest collection of patent and non-patent literature documents,
containing more than 400 million records in over 100 databases and updated daily
 Online access to more than 6 000 journals via the EPO Virtual Library
 New tools and services such as machine translation to extend the range
of easily accessible information
 Ongoing efforts to improve the scope and quality of our documentation
Rigorous controls and commitment to improvement
 Up-to-date guidelines and instructions for examiners
 Spot-checks on search reports and patent quality
 Internal quality audits
Applications filed
63 013
Direct European filings
62 755
83 548
Euro-PCT applications
entering the
regional phase
78 684
0
90 000
2007
2008
European patents granted
59 819
2008
54 700
2007
0
64 000
Applications by residence of applicant (2008)
Technical fields with the most filings (2008)
17 006
Medical or veterinary science; hygiene
Electric communication technique
14 842
9 520
Computing
8 901
Basic electric elements
Measuring; testing
8 206
8 016
Organic chemistry
4 513
Vehicles in general
Organic macromolecular compounds
4 001
Biochemistry; genetic engineering
3 953
Engineering elements
3 867
Others
63 736
0
Number of applications
High-growth technical fields (at least 500 applications filed in 2008)
35.3
Heating; ventilating
32.8
Aircraft; aviation; cosmonautics
25.0
Lighting
Cements; concrete; artificial stone; ceramics;
refractories
20.4
18.3
Petroleum, gas or coke industries
17.3
Electric power generation, distribution
Signalling
Doors, windows, shutters, blinds
Agriculture; forestry; animal husbandry; hunting;
fishing
Earth or rock drilling, mining
15.9
14.9
14.0
13.2
% growth in number of applications
2008 vs. 2007
1 074
522
655
532
737
2 365
735
502
2 109
539
Number of
applications
in 2008
Leading applicants and patentees in 2008
Applications
Granted European patents
2 857
Philips
1 863
Siemens
Robert Bosch
Siemens
Samsung
1 677
Samsung
BASF
1 664
Panasonic
1 425
Robert Bosch
1 134
Ericsson
LG Electronics
1 108
Canon
Panasonic
1 104
BASF
981
869
Toyota
658
622
602
Philips
Qualcomm
NXP
941
548
478
449
410
Hitachi
369
Mitsubishi
361
Sony
802
Alcatel Lucent
356
Honeywell
791
Sony
342
Hitachi
741
Nokia
330
IBM
720
Fujitsu
329
Bayer
697
Honda
325
0
Oppositions in 2008
Oppositions were filed against 5% of granted European patents.
Over one third of all opposed patents were revoked.
Opposition
rejected
Patent
revoked
28.6%
5%
39.8%
Oppositions
31.6%
Granted patents
Patent maintained
in amended form
Need more information?
www.epo.org
[email protected]
Tel. + 49 (0)89 2399 - 4636