EPO says fewer patents equals higher quality

The reduction came despite the fact that the number of applications received in 2008 rose to 146,600, up from 141,000 in 2007.

In 2008, the EPO’s patent examiners conducted 120,900 examination procedures, 59,800 of which ended with the grant of a patent.

“The strict application of patentability criteria by our patent examiners has led to more refusals to grant a patent,” said EPO President Alison Brimelow. “These are important steps to ensure the relevance of the patents entering the innovation process.”

Applications in the area of electronics, including semiconductors, optoelectronics, and electronic devices rose to 12,800, an increase of 11 per cent over 2007, while applications from the information and communications technology sector shrank by just under 1 per cent to 9,250.

Meanwhile, the EPO relaunched its Trilateral Co-operation website, carrying information on its collaboration with the Japan Patent Office and the US Patent and Trademark Office. This contains statistics about patent filings at the three offices, information about projects and documentation from events and conferences organised by the Trilateral offices.

The EPO also announced the first-ever online filing in opposition to a patent using the new EP(Oppo) software plug-in.

This online submission marks a new milestone in online filing, since for the first time all parties – from opponents and interveners through to proprietors and third parties – can perform all procedural steps in an effective and standardised procedure.   

François Knauer, Principal Director for Office-wide and External Automation, said that it was an important step towards full online coverage of services for users of the patent system. “Now, for the first time, parties other than the applicant can act in an online procedure before [the EPO].”

Provisions have also been made to enable users to submit documents pertaining to appeal procedures, including petitions for review by the Enlarged Board of Appeal. The introduction of this latest update to the Online Filing software means that all European patent procedures can now be filed online.