President of EPO, A. Pompidou

30/11/2005

The Conference, organised in cooperation with the Greek Industrial Property Organisation (OBI), was attended by more that 350 professionals from the patent field from all over Europe, who were informed on subjects concerning the protection of patents, the decrease of the cost for patents, the transparency of the system of European Patents, the relevant opportunities for lower-middle businesses, the need to improve patent mentality, etc.

In addition, the participants had the opportunity to follow seminars on the hands-on utilization of European Patent Office products, epoline (a series of electronic products and services offered by the Office to users of the European system of patents) and esp@cenet (patent database).

The conference was hailed by the Minister of Development Mr Dimitris Sioufas who highlighted that Europe is in need of an economy based on spiritual, intellectual and industrial property. Researchers invent, develop, safeguard and share with the international community and therefore this process ought to be done properly, efficiently and swiftly. "What is needed," the Minister continued to say, "is an acceleration in European deepening, in the utilization of human capital with an investment in new knowledge, the creation of European institutions with strong, fully-formed and essential possibilities."

The President of EPO, Prof. Alain Pompidou, highlighted that Europe has the most dynamic regional system for patents, allowing companies to cover 31 countries and to address 500 million residents through the submission of only one application for a patent to the EPO.

"Patents provide the network for the distribution of innovation. They create a network from invention to innovation and from innovation to the market" he emphasized. It should be noted that in 2005 the EPO is expecting to receive 190.000 applications for patents and to grant 53.000 European patents.

Professor Pompidou made a special mention of the online services of the epoline platform which offer full transparency in the granting of European patents and which can be used freely by anyone, without cost. The policy of "transparent patent files" seems to be already widely accepted, as the search percentages in the online Title Registry (600.000 questions per week) and the online files (8.000 visits per day) are very high, while the percentage of online applications for a European patent is as high as 23%. In the 30 years of its existence it has granted more than 700.000 patents, the majority of which are still in force.

On his part, the General Director of OBI, Mr. Seraphim Stasinos, underlined the contribution of the OBI in the promotion, support and safeguarding of innovation in Greece. He also mentioned the recent initiative of the organisation to decrease charges, the extension of working hours and the creation of a free call line, actions that will expand, targeting the supply of one-stop shop services to those interested in becoming informed of the processes for patent safeguarding.

It ought to be noted that the EPO has committed itself to provide full support of the new 7th Framework Programme for research in the EU, targeting better information over patents and the good use of research results.

Source: EPO, OBI