European Patent Office issued fewer patents in 2007

Last year, the European Patent Office (EPO) issued far fewer patents than in 2006. The Munich patent authorities have announced that they approved exactly 54,699 patent applications for commercial protection, 12.9 per cent fewer than in the previous year. EPO President Alison Brimelow says the drop is the result of a new focus on the quality of patents rather than quantity; patent applications actually increased by 3.9 per cent to 140,700. She said her office is making sure that the temporary monopoly rights granted are actually relevant. She says the figures show that the EPO is headed in the right direction.

Nonetheless, the EPO staff's morale seems to have never been lower. A survey conducted among several thousand staff members found that only 4 per cent have faith in the management board. Only 6 per cent said they were satisfied with their direct superiors and the president. The auditors have also long been complaining that they are chronically overworked.

Last April, Brimelow herself complained that the backlog of work at the EPA and the other two largest patent offices in the US and Japan was only growing and could no longer be handled by current staff. She called for greater cooperation between the three patent offices. One of her proposals was to share material for patent research. But in light of obvious differences in patent systems, she did not support the global patent system called for by the Transatlantic Economic Council.

One decision that the management board at the EPO reached last Thursday also caused some turmoil. New staff members now only have to speak two of the three official languages – German, English, and French. Up to then, all three languages were obligatory. Furthermore, the probation period for new employment contracts is to be extended to three years. The EPO web site has yet to reflect these changes.

The Staff Union of the EPO (SUEPO) said that decision was a further threat to the quality of patents. Patent reviewers and industry representatives both pointed out how important it is to have high quality patents – and both argued that the exact opposite would result from reducing qualifications for staff. For example, they point out that a lot of expertise only exists in one of the three official languages. The extended "probationary period" for employment contracts will also scare off highly qualified applicants and increase the pressure to produce results in the first three years. Brimelow has repeatedly announced an intensive dialogue between staff members and executives, but the Staff Union says that she only pays lip service to their demands and that criticism from EPO staff continues to go unheard.

(Stefan Krempl)

(trk)