Recent developments at the EPO and its co-operation in Africa Nicholas Körnig August 2016Administrator International Relations

European Patent Office European member states (38) 2 European extension states (2) Validation states Morocco 2015 Moldova 2015 Tunisia – 2016 (tbc) Patent protection in up to 42 countries European Patent Organisation Founded in 1973 Some 650 million inhabitants

European Patent Office Growth of European patent applications %

European Patent Office European patents granted % * Projection 2016: approx grants

European Patent Office Production, Productivity and Grants 2015 Paid man years (FTE) Products per FTE Record increases in production vs Production Searches / Examinations / Oppositions % Patents granted and published % Record increases in productivity 5

European Patent Office Reduction of backlogs  Backlog in patent searches decreased by 66% (from to )  Backlog will have fully disappeared by July 2016  Timely processing of all incoming applications  The total backlog in late files in all priority groups is planned to further decrease in 2016 (by approx. 10%)  Global Backlog reduced to 2 years 6

European Patent Office Quality – a core value of the EPO  ISO 9001 certification for entire patent granting process  First of the largest patent offices to be fully ISO certified  2016 IAM survey ranked EPO as the best of the five largest patent offices for quality.  Fifth consecutive IAM survey in which EPO has ranked number 1 for Quality of Products and Services Patent information + Post grant activities Patent granting process ISO 9001 certification in 2014 ISO 9001 certification in

European Patent Office Quality in search and examination  High specialisation and intensive training of EPO examiners (4300 examiners working in divisions of 3)  State-of-the-art tools allowing efficient access by examiners (e.g. new Epoque)  Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC): Implemented on 1 January 2013 at EPO and USPTO. KIPO, SIPO, INPI Brazil, ROSPATENT and 14 EPO Member States also classifying into the CPC  Very comprehensive prior art coverage: over 90 million patent documents available to examiners  A standards documentation standing at 2.6 million documents  Regular “Partnership for Quality” meetings with users in Europe, US, Japan, China and Korea 8

European Patent Office Enhancing Quality by improving certainty and timeliness Global prior art search for higher certainty −Enhance coverage of our patent databases including Asian data: ca. 40 million patent documents from China, Japan and Korea 22% of cited prior art in EPO search reports come from Asia “Early Certainty from Search” to improve timeliness −Search reports and opinions on patentability within six months of filing −Next step: “Early Certainty from Examination”: By 2020 the EPO aims to finish examination within one year from a valid request for examination PACE – accelerated examination 9

European Patent Office EPO and PCT  PCT is the work-sharing vehicle of choice for the EPO  EPO ranks 1 st in the world as ISA and IPEA ( international search reports and over international preliminary examination reports in 2015)  Improving services to users: −PCT Direct −extended to all ROs in July 2015 −EPO joined WIPO ePCT on 1 Nov −Freezing of international search fee since April

European Patent Office The EPO PPH pilot programmes  Fast track examination of applications  EPO work products can be used at other PPH Offices (IP5 + AU, CA, MX, SG, IL) Search and/or examination reports (incl. PCT) produced by EPO accelerate applications at: JP US KR CN CA MX SG IL EP AU CO  Columbia: from 2nd half of 2016  Rospatent, Thailand and Malaysia in the pipeline 11

European Patent Office Main features of the unitary patent  Quality: A European patent, granted by the EPO under the EPC  Flexibility: An additional option for patent owners, alongside the existing European and national patent systems  Simplicity: Unitary effect extends to the 26 EU member states currently participating, in one single administrative step by the EPO  Cost reduction: Access to strong and large geographical protection with a reduction of up to 70% *  Legal certainty: Uniform litigation system through the Unified Patent Court * in comparison with a corresponding European patent validated in the same member states 12

European Patent Office The EPO is ready to deliver the unitary patent EPO preparations► Completed  Adoption of EPO’s proposal on renewal fees  Breakthrough in December 2015 – adoption of complete secondary legal framework, including: implementing rules, budgetary and financial rules, the level and distribution of the renewal fees. Member States preparations ► Ongoing  Ongoing ratifications of UPC agreement by participating Member States  10/13 of the necessary states have ratified so far  5 to 6 states, including, UK and DE, have planned to ratify in

European Patent Office EPO international co-operation programmes  Bilateral co-operation −Europe & Eurasia −Africa & Middle East −America −Asia & Oceania  Trilateral co-operation (USPTO, JPO, EPO), since 1983  IP5 co-operation (USPTO, JPO, SIPO, KIPO, EPO), since 2007  International organisations (WTO, WIPO, UN, etc.) 14

European Patent Office EPO co-operation activities in Africa  ARIPO: Co-operation dates back to the 1980s. Launch of capacity-building project in 2000 and signature of bilateral MoU in 2007  OAPI: One of the EPO’s oldest international co-operation partners (MoU signed in 1985, renewed in 2013) supporting the regional development of innovation (17 member states) through the promotion of the patent system  South Africa: MoU in 2007 with Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office (CIPRO). Expected launch of new MoU this year, focussing on capacity-building, exchange of best practices, data exchange  Morocco / Tunisia : Comprehensive co-operation comprising work- sharing, training, tools, patent data, public awareness  ARABPAT (Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia) 15

European Patent Office 16 Thank you for your attention!