1. Recent developments at the EPO and its co-operation in Africa Nicholas Körnig 11-12 August 2016Administrator International Relations

2. 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

3. European Patent Office Growth of European patent applications 152 703148 027148 562142 822 +4.8% 2015 160 022 3

4. European Patent Office European patents granted 2006-2015 4 68.400 +6% * Projection 2016: approx. 90.000 grants

5. European Patent Office Production, Productivity and Grants 2015 Paid man years (FTE) Products per FTE Record increases in production 20152015 vs. 2014 Production Searches / Examinations / Oppositions 365 000+ 14% Patents granted and published68 400+ 6% Record increases in productivity 5

6. European Patent Office Reduction of backlogs  Backlog in patent searches decreased by 66% (from 35.000 to 12.000)  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

7. 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 2015 + 7

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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 (81 100 international search reports and over 9 100 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. 2014 −Freezing of international search fee since April 2012 10

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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 2016 13

14. 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

15. 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

16. European Patent Office 16 www.epo.org Thank you for your attention! nkoernig@epo.org