13th JIPA IP Symposium

The Role of IP in Economic Partnerships- A European Perspective -Benoît Battistelli
EPO President

03/03/2014

Tokyo, 24.02.2014

The EPO in few words
Created in 1973
38 Member States, including all EU= 600 million inhabitants
7 000 employees (4 100 highly specialisedengineers and scientists); 35 nationalities= second largest European International
Organisation
La HayeSelf financed budget via fees from the users= € 2 billion in 2014

Bruxelles

BerlinMünichVienneExtension States: Bosnia, Montenegro
Validation (in preparation): Morocco, Tunisia,
Moldavia, Georgia, OAPIFilings at the EPO (2004 - 2013) : Evolution+ 2,8%

300000257.700
250000200000265.000

66% %76% 6%
8% %

20% 25

10000050000

35%02004

2005

2006

20072008

20092010

2011

2012

2013

S.Korea(+16,6%)%China(+18%)

20%

Japan(+1,2%)37%Europe(0%)

15000025%

Others(0%)

US(+2%)

Filings at the EPO (2013) : Origin

64,7% of filings coming fromoutside Europe

CN: People's Republic of China (China)
KR: Republic of Korea (South Korea)
JP: Japan
US: USA
EPC: the 38 member states of the European
Patent Organisation
DE: Germany
FR: FranceCH: Switzerland
NL: The Netherlands
GB: United Kingdom
SE: Sweden

Applications at the EPO (2012) : Technological fields
Evolution 2011 / 2012
1- Medical technology
2- Electrical machinery, energy
3- Digital communication
4- Computer technology
5- Transport
6- Measurement
7- Organic fine chemistry
8- Engines, pumps, turbines
9- Pharmaceuticals
10- Biotechnology

10 412 (+1,6%)
9 799 (+11,4%)
9 592 (+20,4%)
8 288 (+3,3%)
6 633 (+7,2%)
6 428 (+1,9%)
6 002 (-6,9%)
5 668 (+20,0%)5 364 (-0,2%)
5 309 (-4,3%)

Applications at the EPO (2012) : Top ranking
05001000

1500

2000
2 289
2 193

1.SAMSUNG
2.SIEMENS

1 713
1 702
1 635

3.BASF
4.GENERAL ELECTRIC
5.LG

1 456
1 381
1 344

6.ROBERT BOSCH
7.QUALCOMM
8.MITSUBISHI

1 189
1 184
1 169
1 160
1 098
1 011

9.ERICSSON
10.ZTE
11.PANASONIC
12.PHILIPS
13.SONY
14.RESEARCH IN MOTION
15.BAYER
16.ALCATEL LUCENT
17.HITACHI
18.HUAWEI
19.EADS
20.UNITED TECHNOLOGIES
21.SHARP
22.TOYOTA MOTOR
23.SUMITOMO
24.FUJITSU
25.ABB

2500

884872
830
830
818
777
724
714
707
664
656

8 Japanese companies
among the TOP 25EPO and JAPANJapanese companies were among the first applicants at the EPO (1978)
Japanese applicants rank second largest at the EPO for years (20%)
Regular contacts between the EPO and Japanese stakeholders both inEurope and Japan, at different levels
Close cooperation between the EPO and JPO for many projects (recentexamples: CCD, Patent Translate, PCT Quality metrics)
EPO and JPO were among the founding fathers of the Trilateral (1983)
and IP5 co-operation (2007)
EPO will host the 32nd Trilateral Conference in Italy in April 2014

Main challenges to the patent system
Continuous increase in patent filings
Complexity of patent applications
Gap between globalisation of trade and lack ofharmonisation of national patent frameworks
Critics questioning the role of IP / patents

EPO answers to these challenges
Maintaining Quality as the n°1 Priority
Improving the Efficiency of the patent system
Developing Strategic Partnerships
Being active in the Social Debates

Quality at the EPO
High specialisation and intense training of EPO
examiners
State-of-the-art tools allowing efficient accessby examiners
Very comprehensive prior art coverage: Almost
90 million documents available to examiners
International Co-operation: Concrete projects
improving the patent system
Users rank EPO no 1 in quality

International co-operation
Technical Harmonisation– Global Dossier– IP5 Patent Prosecution Highway programmes (PPH)– Data exchange policy
EPO encourages concrete projects with a user-friendly oriented
approach
Substantive Patent Law Harmonisation– Tegernsee Process– Trade partnerships: Transatlantic and Transpacific
EPO supports harmonisation efforts leading to a real
simplification of the system and increasing the overall quality

Patent Translate
Launched in February 2012, finalised in December 2013
In co-operation withAll 28 official languages of EPO member states, plus Japanese,Chinese, Korean and Russian available free-of-charge via Espacenet
JP-EN language pair added in June 2013: 6.5 million documents
17.000 requests for translation / dayCooperative Patent Classification - CPC
In force at EPO and USPTO since 1 January 2013250.000 categories, IPC - compatible
Many offices have joined this endeavour, among them the offices ofChina, South Korea, Russia, Brazil, UK
Full transparency: 626 CPC Definitions containing 50 000 pages how tosearch and classify into the CPC (on www.cpcinfo.org)
CPC is a major step forward in simplifying work of patent offices andusers, an important element for the technical harmonisation of thepatent system
Partial alignment of CPC and JPO’s FI
in progress within the IP5
www.cpcinfo.org

EPO’s Asian patent documentation
20% of the cited documents in EPO search reports in 2012 had an Asianpriority
On an annual basis, EPO examiners view in full text around:– 2.5 million Japanese patents– 730 000 Chinese patents and utility models– 220 000 Korean patentsDocumentation, tools, translation options, training and knowledge ofAsian documentation is revolutionising the work of examiners
For bibliographic and image patent data, the EPO has almost 100 %coverage for the major Asian countries:

Patents and standards
The EPO has a policy of co-operation with key standards development
organisations
Collection of documentation from ETSI, 3GPP, MPEG, ITU, IEEE-SA,and many more
EPO examiners are trained in searching more than 1.6 million
standards documents incorporated in internal EPO databases
Over 14 000 standards documents were cited as prior art in 2013

PCT - a priority for the EPO
In 2013, the EPO has established:- 77,445 International Search Reports (38,4% of the total)- 7,863 International Preliminary Examination Reports (50%)
Japanese users: 1,724 ISR established by the EPO in 2013 forJapanese companies which filed their application in English (4%of the total)
Improving the services to the users:- Top-up search in the IPER as of 1st April 2014
- Further flexibility regarding non-Unity cases in European phase- Freezing of the International Search Fee until April 2016

Early Certainty from Search
EPO already provides its comprehensive search reports with written
opinion on patentability few months after the filing date:– 5.2 months for the first filings– 15.1 months for the PCT= 9.2 months in average
Users need a feedback from patent offices at the earliest stage"Early Certainty from Search" project =– 6 months to provide the search report for all files– third parties may request acceleration of the examination
User consultation is on-going ; decision to be taken on 01.07.2014

Economic impact of IP
EPO - OHIM macro economic
study published in September
2013, supported by the EUCommission.

It covers all major IP rights andidentifies the industries that use
them relatively intensively, andquantifies the contribution ofthese IPR-intensive industries tomajor macro-economic variables

Indicators

Share of IP intensive industries
in the EUJobs

35%

77 millions jobs

GDP

39%

4.700 billion €Importations

88%

1.400 billion €Exportations

90%

1.200 billion €Economic and Scientific Advisory Committee
Created in January 2012, independent body
Composition: 11 patent experts (economists, judges and practitioners), appointedfor 3 years. Representative from Japan: Professor Sadao Nagaoka fromHitotsubashi University
Mandate: to contribute to a comprehensive analysis of the patent system in its
economic and social context.
Studies / reports already produced:- "Quality of the patent system",- "Pricing and fees",- "Patent thickets".
Studies / reports to be finalized:- "Economic effects of the Unitary Patent and the Unified Patent Court".
Programme 2014:- "Patents and competition laws",- "Grace period in Europe from an economic perspective".

Climate Change Technology
2010: EPO new patent classification scheme to identify technologies related toclimate change mitigation: Y02 and Y04
Several sectors are already covered:- Clean energy technologies,- Buildings, including the residential sector,- Transportation of goods and persons,- Smart Grids technologies, such as remote network operation, smart metering,
electric and hybrid vehicles interoperability, and energy trading and marketing
Studies- 2010, "Patents and clean energy: bridging the gap between evidence andpolicy"- 2013, "Patents and clean energy in Africa"- 2014, "Patents and clean energy in Latin America"

Recent major developments in the European patent system- Unitary Patent Protection - Unified Patent Court -Historic agreement on the European Union's "patent package"– December 2012: European Parliament adopts regulations paving theway for the creation of the Unitary Patent Protection and relevant
language regime– February 2013: agreement for establishing a Unified Patent Court
signed in Brussels by 25 member states

Unitary Patent
The entry into force of the EPC in October 1977 provided Europe with avery successful centralised patent granting procedure
Shortcomings in the post-grant phase:> High costs/complexity for patent proprietors
validation costs (translations, publication fees, attorneycosts)
different modalities of renewal payments in the MS
national registers with different requirements> Sub-optimal national enforcement scheme
multiple litigation with risk of diverging national decisions,high costs, legal uncertainty
differences in procedure, speed
no common court of appeal

Unitary Patent
Unitary Patent =a classic European patent granted by the EPO
under the rules and procedures of the EPC
to which, after grant, unitary effect is attributed.

Advantages for the applicants:- Wide scope of protection: 25 EU Member States. Possibility to combinewith classical EP.
- Simplified administration: post-grant operations (annual fees, register,...) centralized at the EPO, simplified linguistic regime.
- Reduction of the costs: all costs (fees, translations, national registers,attorneys) should be reduced by 70% for the same geographical coverage- Easier management: facilitate patent portfolio management or licensing,improve the defense of the rights at EU borders (customs actions)Unitary Patent
Much-awaited reform in support of innovation
EPO has been entrusted with several new tasks and is currently
preparing the necessary legal and financial framework
Select Committee set up in March 2013 (rules implementing theUPP, level of the fees, distribution key)
The UPP will enter into force when the Treaty on the Court has
been ratified by at least 13 Member States including France,
Germany and UK.

Unified Patent Court
Agreement on UPC signed in (February 2013) Brussels
Entry into force after the deposit of 13th instrument of ratification
Status: Austria (August 2013), Malta (January 2014), France(February 2014). Process well advanced in Belgium, UK,Denmark.
Preparatory Committee (EPO as observer)
Selection of candidate judges (1.300 candidates received!)
Preparation training by EPO’s Patent Academy

Unified Patent Court
Specialised supranational patent court, common to EU Member States,
dealing with disputes (validity, infringement) relating to Unitary Patent andclassical European Patents.
Organisation:a Central Division (Paris + branches in Munich and London)
several Local / Regional Divisions set up in the EU Member States
Centralised Court of Appeal (Luxemburg)

Advantages for the users: reduction of costs, enhancing legal certainty
Unified set of rules, one proceeding, one decision having effect in the 25 EU
Member StatesSpecialisation: pool of technical judges covering all the fields

Unified Patent Court
Concerns about the UPC favouring "patent trolls"?
Several arguments against this rumour:
UPC = no punitive damages
UPC = no automatic preliminary injunction
UPC = litigation costs may have to be borne by
the losing party
UPC = specialised patent judges, no jury

Conclusions
To address IP world challenges
The EPO’s answers are:Quality
Efficiency
International co-operation with user driven
approach – focus on concrete projects

www.epo.org

Thank you for your attention!
ご清聴有難うございました。

03/03/2014