European Patent Organisation

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The European Patent Organisation (EPO or EPOrg in order to distinguish it from the European Patent Office, which is the main organ of the organisation) is a public international organisation set up by the European Patent Convention (EPC). The European Patent Organisation has its seat at Munich, Germany.

The European Patent Organisation has the task of granting European patents. Despite what the name suggests, these are not European Community patents or even Europe-wide patents. The European Patent Convention, according to which the European Patent Organisation was established, provides a single patent grant procedure, but not yet a single patent on the point of view of enforcement. After grant, the European patent becomes equivalent to a number ("bundle") of national patents.

The European Patent Organisation is not legally bound to the European Union.

The evolution of the Organisation is inherently linked to the European Patent Convention. See European Patent Convention for the history of the European Patent system as set up by the European Patent Convention and operated by the European Patent Office.

[edit] Organs

The European Patent Organisation has two organs: the European Patent Office, which can be viewed as its executive body, and the Administrative Council, which can be considered as its legislative body to a limited extent, the actual legislative body for important matters being the Contracting States, when they meet during an intergovernmental Diplomatic Conference.

[edit] European Patent Office

EPO logo.

The European Patent Office (EPO or EPOff in order to distinguish it from the European Patent Organisation) can be viewed as the executive body of the European Patent Organisation.

The EPO headquarters are located at Munich, Germany. The European Patent Office also includes a branch in Rijswijk (suburb of The Hague, Netherlands), sub-offices in Berlin, Germany, and Vienna, Austria and a "liaison bureau" in Brussels, Belgium. As of 2005, the European Patent Office had a staff of 6000 (among which about 3000 in Munich, 2650 in Rijswijk, 300 in Berlin and 100 in Vienna).

[edit] Presidency

EPO headquarters at Munich

The European Patent Office is directed by a president. The president also represents the European Patent Organisation. Here is the list of former, current and future (known) presidents of the European Patent Office:

• Johannes Bob van Benthem (1 November 1977 - 30 April 1985), Dutch
• Paul Brändli (1 May 1985 - 31 December 1995), Swiss
• Ingo Kober (1 January 1996 - 30 June 2004), German
• Alain Pompidou (1 July 2004 - 30 June 2007), French
• Alison Brimelow (1 July 2007 - 30 June 2010), British

[edit] Languages

The official languages of the European Patent Office are English, French and German. However, other languages than these three are not all considered on the same footing. Non-admissible languages, such as Japanese or Chinese, should be distinguished from the "admissible non-EPO languages", such as Spanish, Italian, Dutch and any language that is at least an official language in one Contracting State. European patent applications can be validly filed by some applicants in an admissible non-EPO language provided that a translation is filed thereafter, ^[1] while they cannot be validly filed in Chinese or Japanese whether a translation is filed thereafter or not.

[edit] Departments and Directorates-General

EPO The Hague branch

The European Patent Office includes the following departments, pursuant to Art. 15 EPC: a Receiving Section, responsible for the examination on filing and the examination as to formal requirements of European patent applications, Examining Divisions, responsible for prior art searches and the examination of European patent applications, Opposition Divisions, responsible for the examination of oppositions against any European patent, a Legal Division, Boards of Appeal, responsible for the examination of appeals, and an Enlarged Board of Appeal (see also: Appeal procedure before the European Patent Office). In practice, the above departments of European Patent Office are organized into five "Directorates-General" (DG), each being directed by a Vice-President: DG 1 Operations, DG 2 Operational Support, DG 3 Appeals, DG 4 Administration, and DG 5 Legal/International Affairs.

The European Patent Office does not include any court which can take decisions on infringement matter. National jurisdictions are competent for infringement matter regarding European patents.

[edit] Activities under the Patent Cooperation Treaty

The European Patent Office acts as a Receiving Office, an International Searching Authority and an International Preliminary Examining Authority in the international procedure according to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). The Patent Cooperation Treaty provides an international procedure for dealing with patent applications, called international applications, during the first 30 months after their first filing in any country. The European Patent Office does not grant international patents - which do not exist. After 30 months an international application must be converted into national or regional patent applications, and then are subject to national/regional grant procedures.

[edit] Other activities

The EPO cooperates with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the Japan Patent Office (JPO) pursuant to trilateral agreements.

[edit] Administrative Council

The Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation constitutes its legislative body. It supervises the European Patent Office's work, adopts the budget, approves the President's actions and amends the Rules and some particular provisions of the Articles of the European Patent Convention. The Administrative Council is composed of representatives of the Contracting States, and its current chairman is Roland Grossenbacher (Swiss). ^[2]

[edit] Contracting States and extension states

There are, as of March 1, 2007, 32 Contracting States to the EPC, also called member states of the European Patent Organisation: ^[3] Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United Kingdom (see European Patent Convention article for the dates of entry in force in each country). The EPC entered into force on March 1, 2007 for Malta, the last country to join. ^[4]

In addition there are five so-called "extension states" which recognise European patents but are not Contracting States to the EPC. These are Albania, Croatia, Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Latvia was an extension state until June 30, 2005.

Further countries are expected to join the EPO in due course. Norway is entitled to accede to the EPC under Article 166 EPC, and Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia have been invited to accede to the EPC. ^[3]

[edit] Statistics

Pendancy between when a patent application is filed and when it issues in the EPO as of 2004. Source: EPO Annual Report 2004

178 600 European patent applications were filed in 2004, compared with 167 400 in 2003. In 2004, 45 % of the applications led to the grant of a patent. The average time from filing to grant was 46.2 months. 26 % of the applicants resided in the United States, 18.6 % in Germany and 16.6 % in Japan. Philips filed 4253 applications, Siemens 1690 and Matsushita Electric 1514. ^[5]

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• esp@cenet
• Eurasian Patent Organization
• European Patent Office Reports (EPOR), a publication
• International Patent Institute (IIB), established in 1947 and integrated into the European Patent Organisation on its creation
• Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM), dealing with trademarks and industrial designs for the European Union
• Standing Advisory Committee before the European Patent Office (SACEPO)
• Trilateral Offices

See also "European Patent Organisation" box below.

[edit] External links

• European Patent Office web site
• Institute of Professional Representatives before the EPO or "European Patent Institute (epi)"
• Staff Union of the European Patent Office (SUEPO)