EPO fosters international co-operation during WIPO Assemblies

05.10.2018

A high-level EPO delegation led
by President António Campinos attended the WIPO Assemblies in
Geneva last week to meet with counterparts from national patent offices from around
the world to help shape the EPO’s international agenda for 2019.

The 58th series of
Meetings of the Assemblies of the member states of the World Intellectual
Property Organization (WIPO), which took place from 24 September to 2 October
2018, provided a unique opportunity to take stock of the progress in co-operation
activities, and to define future directions. The
EPO agenda included over 45 official meetings with national patent offices from
other regions.

The meetings aimed to further
strengthen relations with a number of strategic partners; these take the form
of comprehensive co-operation plans which aim to streamline patenting procedures
while building up national capacities, and to deliver high-quality training and
assistance to the partner offices.    

IP Australia officially joined
the Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) family by signing Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) on the CPC together with a comprehensive biannual work
plan. This brings to 28 the number of offices classifying their patent
documentation using this highly refined system. Other important developments
were the signing of MoUs on co-operation with the National Institute for the
Defense of Free Competition and the Protection of Intellectual Property of Peru
(INDECOPI), the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and the Eurasian Patent Office
(EAPO). The EPO also renewed its MoU on co-operation with the Superintendence
of Industry and Commerce of Colombia, a user of EPOQUE Net.

“Close co-operation with our
partners around the globe is essential for establishing an efficient IP
ecosystem”, the EPO President explained. “All offices are part of that network,
and we share many of the same users, so greater efficiency can only be achieved
by working together,” he said.

In order to share experiences and
best practices on the validation system, EPO President Campinos hosted a meeting
with representatives of Morocco, Moldova, and Cambodia, as well as with counterparts
from candidate countries for validation and regional offices such as Angola,
Georgia, Laos, Jordan and the Organisation Africaine de la Propriété
Intellectuelle (OAPI). To date, four countries have already signed a validation
agreement with the EPO, which has extended the possible coverage of a European
patent to 44 countries. Validation has proven to be a successful measure for
reducing the backlog of patent applications, and releasing resources to strengthen
local innovation ecosystems.

Mr Campinos also met individually
with the heads of the world’s five largest IP offices (known as the IP5) to
take stock of developments and plan next year’s Trilateral and IP5 meetings.
 

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