European Patent Office
Encyclopedia
European Patent Organisation
The European Patent Organisation is a public international organisation created in 1977 by its contracting states to grant patents in Europe under the European Patent Convention of 1973...
(EPOrg), the other being the Administrative Council
Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation
The Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation is one of the two organs of the European Patent Organisation , the other being the European Patent Office . The Administrative Council acts as the Organisation's supervisory body as well as, to a limited extent, its legislative body...
. The EPO acts as executive body for the Organisation while the Administrative Council acts as its supervisory body as well as, to a limited extent, its legislative body. The actual legislative power to revise the European Patent Convention
European Patent Convention
The Convention on the Grant of European Patents of 5 October 1973, commonly known as the European Patent Convention , is a multilateral treaty instituting the European Patent Organisation and providing an autonomous legal system according to which European patents are granted...
lies with the Contracting States themselves when meeting at a Conference of the Contracting States.
Within the European Patent Office, examiners are in charge of studying European patent applications, filed by applicants, in order to decide whether to grant
Grant procedure before the European Patent Office
The grant procedure before the European Patent Office is an ex parte, administrative procedure, which includes the filing of a European patent application, the examination of formalities, the establishment of a search report, the publication of the application, its substantive examination, and the...
a patent for an invention. The patents granted by the European Patent Office are called European patents.
Function, status and location
The European Patent Office (EPO) grants European patents for the Contracting States to the European Patent Convention. The EPO provides a single patent grant procedure, but not a single patent from the point of view of enforcement. Hence the patents granted are not European Union patents or even Europe-wide patents, but a bundle of national patents. Besides granting European patents, the EPO is also in charge of establishing search reportSearch report
In patent law, a search report is a report established by a patent office, which mentions documents which may be taken into consideration in deciding whether the invention to which a patent application relates is patentable...
s for national patent applications on behalf of the patent offices of Belgium, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, and Turkey.
The European Patent Office is not a legal entity as such, but an organ of the European Patent Organisation, which has a legal personality.
The EPO headquarters are located at Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. The European Patent Office also includes a branch in Rijswijk
Rijswijk
Rijswijk is a town and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. It is a suburb of The Hague and covers an area of 14.48 km² ....
(a suburb of The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
, Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
), sub-offices in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, and Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
and a "liaison bureau" in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
. At the end of 2009, the European Patent Office had a staff of 6818 (with 3718 based in Munich, 2710 in Rijswijk, 274 in Berlin, 112 in Vienna and 4 in Brussels). The predecessor of the European Patent Office was the Institut International des Brevets or IIB.
The premises of the European Patent Office enjoy a form of extraterritoriality
Extraterritoriality
Extraterritoriality is the state of being exempt from the jurisdiction of local law, usually as the result of diplomatic negotiations. Extraterritoriality can also be applied to physical places, such as military bases of foreign countries, or offices of the United Nations...
. In accordance with the Protocol on Privileges and Immunities, which forms an integral part of the European Patent Convention under , the premises of the European Patent Organisation, and therefore those of the European Patent Office, are inviolable. The authorities of the States in which the Organisation has its premises are not authorized to enter those premises, except with the consent of the President of the European Patent Office. Such consent is however "assumed in case of fire or other disaster requiring prompt protective action".
| Presidents of the European Patent Office |
| 1. Johannes Bob van Benthem Johannes Bob van Benthem Dr. Johannes Bob van Benthem was a Dutch lawyer. He was the first president of the European Patent Office, from November 1, 1977 to April 30, 1985.... (1 November 1977 - 30 April 1985), Dutch Netherlands The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders... . |
| 2. Paul Braendli (1 May 1985 - 31 December 1995), Swiss Switzerland Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition.... . |
| 3. Ingo Kober Ingo Kober Ingo Kober was the third president of the European Patent Office.After completing his legal studies, Ingo Kober began his professional career in 1972 as judge and public prosecutor in Mannheim and Tauberbischofsheim. In 1975 he moved to the Federal German Ministry of Justice , where he served... (1 January 1996 - 30 June 2004), German Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate... . |
| 4. Alain Pompidou Alain Pompidou Alain Pompidou is a French scientist and politician. A former professor of histology, embryology and cytogenetics, he was the fourth president of the European Patent Office from July 1, 2004 to June 30, 2007... (1 July 2004 - 30 June 2007), French France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France... . |
| 5. Alison Brimelow Alison Brimelow Alison Jane Brimelow CBE is a British civil servant and former Chief Executive and Comptroller General of the UK Patent Office, now known as the Intellectual Property Office... (1 July 2007 - 30 June 2010), British United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... . |
| 6. Benoît Battistelli Benoît Battistelli Benoît Battistelli is a French civil servant and current president of the European Patent Office . Before taking up this post, he was head of the French National Intellectual Property Institute .- Career :... (from 1 July 2010), French. |
President
The European Patent Office is directed by a president, who is responsible for its activities to the Administrative Council. The president also represents the European Patent Organisation. The president has therefore a dual role: representative of the European Patent Organisation and head of the European Patent Office. The President of the European Patent Office is appointed by the Administrative Council. A majority of three-quarters of the votes of the Contracting States represented and voting in the Administrative Council is required for the appointment of the President.Languages
The official languages of the European Patent Office are EnglishEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
and publications including the European Patent Bulletin
European Patent Bulletin
The European Patent Bulletin is a weekly trilingual publication of the European Patent Office , generally issued every Wednesday. It contains "entries made in the Register of European Patents, as well as other particulars, the publication of which is prescribed by [the European Patent Convention ]...
and Official Journal of the European Patent Office
Official Journal of the European Patent Office
The Official Journal of the European Patent Office is a monthly trilingual publication of the European Patent Office . It contains "notices and information of a general character issued by the President of the European Patent Office, as well as any other information relevant to [the European Patent...
are published in all three of those languages.
Patent application
Patent application
A patent application is a request pending at a patent office for the grant of a patent for the invention described and claimed by that application. An application consists of a description of the invention , together with official forms and correspondence relating to the application...
s may be filed in any language provided that a translation into one of the official languages is submitted within two months. The official language that the application is filed in or translated into is taken to be the language of the proceedings and the application is published in that language. Documentary evidence may also be submitted in any language, although the EPO may require a translation.
Several Contracting States to the European Patent Convention
European Patent Convention
The Convention on the Grant of European Patents of 5 October 1973, commonly known as the European Patent Convention , is a multilateral treaty instituting the European Patent Organisation and providing an autonomous legal system according to which European patents are granted...
have an official language which is not an official language of the EPO, such as Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
or Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
and these languages are referred to as "admissible non-EPO languages". Residents or nationals of such States may submit any documents subject to a time limit in an official language of that State and there is a shorter period of one month for filing a translation into an official language or the document is deemed not to have been filed. Many EPO fees are reduced by 20% for people who file patent application or other documents in an admissible non-EPO language and subsequently file the necessary translation.
Departments and Directorates-General
The European Patent Office includes the following departments:- A Receiving Section, responsible for the examination on filing and the examination as to formal requirements of European patent applications
- Examining DivisionsGrant procedure before the European Patent OfficeThe grant procedure before the European Patent Office is an ex parte, administrative procedure, which includes the filing of a European patent application, the examination of formalities, the establishment of a search report, the publication of the application, its substantive examination, and the...
, responsible for prior art searches and the examination of European patent applications - Opposition DivisionsOpposition procedure before the European Patent OfficeThe opposition procedure before the European Patent Office is a post-grant, contentious, inter partes, administrative procedure intended to allow any European patent to be centrally opposed...
, responsible for the examination of oppositions against any European patent - A Legal Division
- Boards of AppealAppeal procedure before the European Patent OfficeDecisions of the first instances of the European Patent Office can be appealed, i.e. challenged, before the Boards of Appeal of the EPO, in a judicial procedure , as opposed to an administrative procedure. These boards act as the final instances in the granting and opposition procedures before the...
, responsible for the examination of appealAppealAn appeal is a petition for review of a case that has been decided by a court of law. The petition is made to a higher court for the purpose of overturning the lower court's decision....
s, - An Enlarged Board of Appeal.
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 make decisions on infringement
Patent infringement
Patent infringement is the commission of a prohibited act with respect to a patented invention without permission from the patent holder. Permission may typically be granted in the form of a license. The definition of patent infringement may vary by jurisdiction, but it typically includes using or...
matters. National court
Court
A court is a form of tribunal, often a governmental institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law...
s have jurisdiction
Jurisdiction
Jurisdiction is the practical authority granted to a formally constituted legal body or to a political leader to deal with and make pronouncements on legal matters and, by implication, to administer justice within a defined area of responsibility...
over infringement matters regarding European patents
Enforcement of European patents
European patents are granted by the European Patent Office under the legal provisions of the European Patent Convention . However, European patents are enforced at a national level, i.e. on a per-country basis...
. Regarding the validity of European patents however, both the European Patent Office during opposition proceedings
Opposition procedure before the European Patent Office
The opposition procedure before the European Patent Office is a post-grant, contentious, inter partes, administrative procedure intended to allow any European patent to be centrally opposed...
and national courts during nullity proceedings may decide to revoke a European patent. According to Sir Robin Jacob, the members of the EPO Boards of Appeal are "judges in all but name".
Activities under the Patent Cooperation Treaty
In the international procedure according to the Patent Cooperation TreatyPatent Cooperation Treaty
The Patent Cooperation Treaty is an international patent law treaty, concluded in 1970. It provides a unified procedure for filing patent applications to protect inventions in each of its contracting states...
(PCT), the European Patent Office acts as a Receiving Office, an International Searching Authority (ISA), an International Preliminary Examining Authority (IPEA) and, with effect from 1 July 2010, as a so-called Supplementary International Searching Authority (SISA). The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) provides an international procedure for handling patent applications, called international applications, during the first 30 months after their first filing in any country party to the PCT. The European Patent Office does not grant "international patents," as such patents do not exist. After 30 months (or, for a few countries, after 20 months) an international application must be converted into national or regional patent applications, and then are subject to national/regional grant procedures.
As Supplementary International Searching Authority (SISA), the European Patent Office has announced that it will conduct no more than 700 supplementary international searches per year.
Online services
The EPO offers on his web site several free services, including Espacenet for searching within its collection of patent documents, the legal texts published in his Official JournalOfficial Journal of the European Patent Office
The Official Journal of the European Patent Office is a monthly trilingual publication of the European Patent Office . It contains "notices and information of a general character issued by the President of the European Patent Office, as well as any other information relevant to [the European Patent...
, the European Patent Register for monitoring European patent applications, and a publication server of the European patent applications and specifications. There is also the epoline
Epoline
epoline is a set of web-based software programs and services enabling applicants, patentees and their representatives to file patent applications online before the European Patent Office , as well as to monitor the status of patent applications during their prosecution and patents during an...
software for filing European patent applications online.
Cooperations
The EPO cooperates with the United States Patent and Trademark OfficeUnited States Patent and Trademark Office
The United States Patent and Trademark Office is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that issues patents to inventors and businesses for their inventions, and trademark registration for product and intellectual property identification.The USPTO is based in Alexandria, Virginia,...
(USPTO) and the Japan Patent Office
Japan Patent Office
The Japan Patent Office is a Japanese governmental agency in charge of industrial property right affairs, under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry...
(JPO) as one of the Trilateral Patent Offices. It also works with the Japan Patent Office (JPO), the Korean Intellectual Property Office
Korean Intellectual Property Office
The Korean Intellectual Property Office is the patent office and intellectual property office of South Korea. In 2000, the name of the office was changed from "Korean Industrial Property Office" to "Korean Intellectual Property Office". It is located in Daejeon Metropolitan City...
(KIPO), the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China (SIPO) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in a co-operation known as the "five IP offices" or IP5.
Staff unions
Staff unions active within the EPO include the Staff Union of the European Patent Office (SUEPO) and the Fédération de la Fonction Publique Européenne - European Patent Office (FFPE-EPO).SUEPO was born in 1979 out of the Syndicat du Personnel de l'Institut International des Brevets (SP-IIB) which was founded in 1969. SUEPO is made up of four local sections in Berlin, Munich, The Hague and Vienna and claims to have consistently about 50% of the staff of the respective sites as member.
FFPE-EPO is a staff union at the EPO, The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
section. It was registered under Dutch law
Law of the Netherlands
The Netherlands is a civil law country. Its laws are written and the application of customary law is exceptional. The role of case law is small in theory, although in practice it is impossible to understand the law in many fields without also taking into account the relevant case law...
on March 7, 2008, and is affiliated with the European Civil Service Federation (French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
: Fédération de la Fonction Publique Européenne or FFPE), founded in 1962. The FFPE-EPO was set up in spite of the fact that there already was a staff union in place in EPO, The Hague, the SUEPO, because -in the words of FFPE-EPO- a need was felt for new representation with new visions, developing new ways of representing everyone's interests, including that of the EPO. An unofficial English translation of the statutes can be found on-line.
External links
- Institute of Professional Representatives before the EPO or "European Patent Institute (epi)"
- Staff Union of the European Patent Office (SUEPO)
- FFPE-EPO another staff union of the European Patent Office