The European Patent Office (EPO) is an intergovernmental organization established on October 7, 1977 under the European Patent Convention. Its main function is to be responsible for patent approval in Europe.
In 2017, China ranked among the top five applicants at the European Patent Office for the first time.
The EPO currently has 38 member states, covering the entire European Union and 10 countries outside the EU [2]. The original 19 member states were: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, the United Kingdom, Cyprus and Finland. The agency's 4,041 staff members come from the above countries. The agency's locations are in four cities: Munich in Germany, The Hague in the Netherlands, Vienna in Austria, and Berlin in Germany. The main body of the agency and most of its staff are concentrated in Munich and The Hague, with 1,830 people in Munich and 1,681 in The Hague.
Features of protection by the European Patent Office
Obtaining patent protection in European countries through the European Patent Office has the following characteristics:
According to the European Patent Convention, a European patent application can designate multiple countries for protection. A European patent can have the same effect as a national patent in any or all of the member states. In this case, the procedures for filing patent applications separately in multiple countries can be simplified, saving costs and facilitating applicants;
European patents are examined and approved according to a unified law. There will be no different consequences due to the differences in procedures and examination requirements of patent laws in different countries, giving applicants a sense of security;
The efficiency and quality of European patent approval are guaranteed, which is faster and more cost-effective than the national application process, and can increase the commercial value of inventions.
The European Patent Office uses three languages: English, French and German, which gives applicants greater freedom in choosing the language to use, thereby reducing the cost of applying in different languages in each country;
The European Patent Office adopts a procedure of separate search and examination, which is not only conducive to the timely processing of patent applications by applicants, but also conducive to the coordination of the International Patent Cooperation Treaty, and convenient for applicants submitting international patent applications.
While strengthening its internal management, examination, retrieval and other business operations, the EPO also maintains good and extensive cooperative relations with governmental and non-governmental patent work agencies in various countries. The cooperative relationship with the State Intellectual Property Office in the field of patents is also constantly developing and strengthening.
The European Patent Office is one of the most powerful and modern patent offices in the world. It has the most complete patent document resources in the world, advanced patent information retrieval systems and rich experience in patent examination, appeal and legal research. It has provided a lot of help to the Chinese Intellectual Property Office in document collection, retrieval and examiner training. In addition, the two bureaus also have extensive exchanges in the areas of documentation and information products.
