http://www.epo.org/news-issues/news/2018/20180102.html
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2 January 2018
The European Patent Office has completed an internal
re-organisation which will enhance the efficiency of its patenting process. The
move is also expected to foster the timeliness of the patent granting procedure
for users and contribute to higher quality patents and services.
The number of patent applications has risen steadily
for some years and has led the EPO to assess whether increasing digitalisation
offers opportunities for achieving greater efficiency. Following a study by
Boston Consulting Group in 2016, two major changes have now been introduced
into the patent granting process. By merging two former Directorates General,
the reorganisation integrates support staff (formalities officers) with teams
of patent examiners to reduce “hand-over points”, where patent applications
pass from one operational unit to another. The latest internal changes will
also streamline various stages of the patent granting process by bringing them
under one line management. In addition, new specialised directorates will deal
with opposition procedures, helping to improve both timeliness and coherence of
the different decisions taken by the units.
“This reorganisation will help improve services for patent
applicants”, said EPO President Benoît Battistelli. “It’s been made possible by
the EPO’s continual investment in IT and increasing automation in our Office.
We’re exploiting these opportunities to reorganise our patent granting process
and give our users a more efficient system that delivers even higher quality
patents and shorter processing times.”
New Directorate General
The work of a new Directorate General – ‘Patent
Granting Process’, headed by Vice-President Alberto Casado – has been redefined
into three new sectors and reflects changing trends in major areas of patenting
activity: mobility & mechatronics; healthcare, biotechnology &
chemistry and information & communications technology. Business continuity
with high quality will be assured in each sector by one of three new Chief
Operating Officers, following their appointment in 2017.
A stronger link with users
User Support and Quality Management have also been brought
together to reinforce the link between the customer, EPO services and quality.
As well as managing the EPO’s ISO certifications, the unit will ensure that
user feedback is fully integrated into the EPO’s quality management and future
projects of the Office related to the evolution of the patent granting process.
This customer feedback will help to improve the EPO’s services further and
ensure continually higher quality patents for users.
Further information