EPO
We are represented in all the main European Patent Office (EPO) committees, namely the Administrative Council, the Budget and Finance Committee, The Working Party on Technical Information, the Patent Law Committee, the Working Party on Litigation and The Board of The Administrative Council (Board 28).
General Danish EPO PolicyDenmark believes that a strong EPO with focus on its core task, namely handling European patent applications, is a prerequisite for a successful European patent system. The EPO member states have verbalized this strategy objective in the EPO document CA/94/05, which Denmark actively participated in drafting. Thus, contrary to some beliefs, Denmark does not in anyway wish to re-nationalize the European patent system or shut down the European Patent Office. The European patent system is a fundamental part of the European innovation infrastructure and developing the system in a positive direction is an integrated part of the policy of The Danish Patent and Trademark Office. To achieve this goal, we are an active player in the different EPO committees.
Danish views on the EPO strategy debate
Even though Denmark fully supports a strong EPO it is evident that the present European patent system has a number of shortcomings and faces severe challenges within several areas, e.g. quality, closeness to users, efficiency and duplication of work. These challenges were at the heart of the so-called "EPO strategy debate".
The Danish views on these challenges can be found in the document Danish Views on the EPO Strategy Debate. To sum up these views, the ultimate objective of the European patent system should be to support innovation in Europe and improve Europe's competitiveness in a global market in accordance with the Lisbon agreement. Since innovation takes place in the contracting states and requires support from local IP competence centres, the innovation will not be enhanced by a simple streamlining of the existing geographically centralized system. A streamlined and efficient system offering high quality is necessary, but it is also necessary to give much more attention to bringing the system closer to the users and those it in fact affects.
A very significant result in the strategy debate was achieved at the Council meeting in June 2006. Here the Council decided to create a European Patent Network consisting of the EPO and all the national patent offices. Important elements of the Network are:
- EPO’s re-utilization of the work carried out by national offices in connection with national first filings
- Establishment of a common European quality system for all European patent offices including the EPO
- Strong focus on development of common European electronic tools for processing patent applications
- Board of the Administrative Council shall cooperate closely with the EPO on finding a way of handling the workload
The issues and goals above are handled in special working groups who have the task of implementing The European Patent Network. With the objective of creating a better, more coherent and quality oriented European patent system, the Danish Patent and Trademark Office participates in all these working groups.
In relation to the establishment of a common European quality system for all European patent offices, Denmark is very pleased that the Administrative Council has adopted a set of quality standards for all national patent offices and the EPO at its meeting in March 2007.
Questions
If you have any questions to this text or to our EPO work in general, please do not hesitate to contact Flemming Kønig Mejl.
Last update: 29 July 2008
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