EPO answers critics at CIPA Congress
The head of the controlling office at the European Patent Office, Ciaran McGinley, was faced with tough questions following his speech at the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys' annual congress.
Some patent attorneys at the conference accused the EPO of blaming them for its problems.
"Too often, the EPO sees patent applicants as the ‘problem'," said Mike Barlow, head of IP at BP International. "The EPO complains of too many filings, and that applicants exploit backlogs to create uncertainty and to obtain an unfair advantage."
Barlow said that this was unfair, arguing that it was systemic inefficiencies within the EPO that were the problem.
The CIPA Congress, which took place in October this year, took the form a of series of debates in which patent applicants were able to quiz administrators of patent offices, including the EPO and the UK Intellectual Property Office.
In his speech, McGinley attempted to explain the difficult position the EPO was in, particularly with respect to recent financial difficulties the office had faced.
"The EPO exercises a great deal of centralised power and incurs costs every time it attempts to improve quality and timeliness of patent applications," said McGinley. "Perversely, the office would make money if we did nothing."
McGinley said that it was a challenge to turn these negative incentives into positive incentives.
However, members of the audience challenged McGinley, accusing the EPO of wrongly criticising incoming applications for its own failures. Barlow added: "In terms of delays and patent backlogs, for 80% of the time, the ball is in the EPO's court. Users are waiting on the EPO to make a decision, not the other way round. It is the EPO that causes delays."
Over 200 people attended the two-day event, which featured a keynote speech from the IPO chief executive, Ian Fletcher.
Fletcher's speech tackled the issue of work-sharing between IP offices around the world, which he said was key to solving the problem of patent backlogs. He also highlighted the danger of less efficient patent offices "free-loading" from the experience and work of the more efficient ones.
"You have to pick your friends carefully," said Fletcher. "Work-sharing is a club not a community."
