Comments for European Patent Office Blog

Comment on The Cooperative Patent Classification – a decisive step forward in patent harmonisation by Matthew D. Hoel

Matthew D. Hoel — Thu, 16 May 2013 08:42:39 +0000

I work in the electronic games area at the USPTO (Class 463 => CPC A63F). The CPC system is up to date and very useful for finding prior art. This was a necessary revision. Relevant art is much easier to find.

Comment on The epi turns 35 by EALE MPAKAMA ROGER

EALE MPAKAMA ROGER — Fri, 03 May 2013 17:59:11 +0000

L’institut européen des madantaires en propriété intellectuelle est une chance pour les mandataires qui y sont formés. Mais, l’on devrait également penser à d’autres continents où la qiestion de la propriété intellectuelle n’est pas ecore perçue comme un énorme secteur de développement. Je crois les bourses d’études permettront aux Mandataires Africains de parfaire leurs connaissances sur les procédures de protection des oeuvres dans la classification internationale et sur le comment conseiller les secteurs privés à solliciter les licences dans les différents domaines.
Me Roger EALE MPAKAMA
Avocat/Lawyer in Democratic Republic of Congo.

Comment on Moving ahead with the unitary patent: the Select Committee holds its first meeting by Blog team

Blog team — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 07:28:24 +0000

Dear Dr Fiolka,

Thank you for your comment. The unitary patent is a European patent with unitary effect. Unitary effect is provided to the European patent after grant, ie the current application and examination procedure remains unchanged. This also applies for the fees which have to be paid until grant of the European patent. The pre-grant fees (including the fees for the translation of the patent claims into the two other languages of the EPO which are not the language of proceedings) for a European patent and a unitary patent will thus be the same: 5 000 EUR.

In my blog I referred to the upcoming discussions in relation to the level of the renewal fees for a unitary patent. However, the FAQ of the European Commission which you mention refers to the fees up to the grant of the European patent which are the same irrespective of whether unitary effect is later provided to that patent or not.

Yours sincerely,
Benoît Battistelli

Comment on Moving ahead with the unitary patent: the Select Committee holds its first meeting by Top 10 Weekly IP and Patent News Update - Article One Partners

Top 10 Weekly IP and Patent News Update - Article One Partners — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 13:45:18 +0000

[...] EPO Moving Ahead with the Unitary Patent: Select Committee Holds its First Meeting – EPO Blog [...]

Comment on Moving ahead with the unitary patent: the Select Committee holds its first meeting by Fiolka

Fiolka — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 00:12:18 +0000

Dear President Battistelli, your remarks regarding new system are very interesting, however there is one ambiguity that as it seems require some clarification. You said that one of the Select Committee’s main tasks will be to determine the appropriate level of fees for the unitary patent. Three constraints will have to be taken into account: first, the unitary patent must be attractive for the user community; second, it must be self-financed and budget-neutral for the EPO, since not all of the 38 EPO member states are involved; and third, some member states have expressed concerns about the expected amount of renewal fee income from the unitary patent, compared to the current situation.
According to European Commission MEMO “Patent reform package – Frequently Asked Questions” published on 11 December 2012 r. after the transitional period (in which certain additional translations will be required), the cost to obtain a European Patent with unitary effect will be around 5 000 euro. This covers the procedural fees of the EPO as well as the cost of the translation of the claims to the two other procedural languages of the EPO. During the transitional period of maximum 12 years, the cost will be slightly higher, about 6 500 euro.
Will the Select Committee be bound by the above EC statement? Taking into account the level of fees charged currently by EPO for granting European patent there is little place for maneuver for the Select Committee to determine the appropriate level of fees for the unitary patent, which would be in line with this EC statement.
Unitary patent function, as every patent function is to encourage inventiveness through protecting of new ideas, not to generate income for member states to fulfill their budged gap. That is why claims of some member states for revenue from the new system should be strongly denied.

Comment on Women’s Day by Christoph K. Engel

Christoph K. Engel — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 09:57:30 +0000

I can confirm that modern organization of working environment results in multiple benefits for employees and employer. In our patent law firm women uses the potentials of home office working since several years. I am glad that our female employees returned to our firm after parental leave and are able to combine work and family life.

Comment on The Nobel Peace Prize for the EU by plateforme options binaires

plateforme options binaires — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 14:11:26 +0000

Those nobels prizes were a suprised to me, congratulation once again !

Comment on The EPO on the global stage by EPO

EPO — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 17:26:10 +0000

Your acknowledgement of the major step represented by the publication of the CPC scheme is important to the EPO. It indicates that the joint endeavour the EPO and the USPTO has undertaken to set up a comprehensive classification scheme is appreciated by the IP community. You also deserve compliments for having been through the 9 401 pages of the CPC scheme. This is also a remarkable achievement!

The concerns you raise in your comment are understandable but the reassuring news is that our joint implementation group had already considered them and has put in place measures to mitigate this risk. A robust quality assurance system has been designed and will be in place at the CPC entry into force on 1 January 2013. A comprehensive training program was also developed to ensure that all classifiers in CPC have the adequate knowledge of the scheme to allocate all the required symbols to the publications they will classify. We should not forget that examiners at the EPO and at the USPTO are highly skilled professionals who also need to retrieve patent documents in an efficient way and on a daily basis: proper classification is a cornerstone of their work and therefore they will strive to use this tool to its full potential by using all the available subdivisions.

Comment on The EPO on the global stage by René A. Alfaro

René A. Alfaro — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 17:29:04 +0000

I have just finished taking a glance at the whole CPC scheme–9 401pages. It is no doubt a commendable crowning achievement that will become a premium reference for the professional patent searcher. What is yet to be seen is whether this magnificent classifying tool will become an optimal retrieving tool as well. I urge both the EPO and USPTO to populate each and every subdivision properly, with the same passion that they poured into assembling the scheme. Only then, the CPC will be fully functional as a global classification system.

Comment on Successful pilot of new web-based service for third-party observations by Mikko Piironen

Mikko Piironen — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 10:46:11 +0000

It would be highly interesting to know what is the general quality and outcome of the third party observations.

The questions to be asked could be, for example, "How often the Examiner has found the third party observation useful?" and "How often the material provided in third party observation is so relevant that a rejection could be based on that material only?".

Mikko