EPO and China’s IP office strengthen ties
The European Patent Office (EPO) and the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) have signed a co-operation programme on a range of patent issues, strengthening the longstanding bond between the two offices.
Announced on Tuesday, September 25, the deal will kick in next year and will focuses on examination guidelines, examination quality, data exchange, search tools and machine translation, among other areas.
It was signed in Munich on Friday, September 21, by EPO president António Campinos and CNIPA commissioner Shen Changyu.
The offices signed their first memorandum of understanding in 1985. In November 2017 they renewed their cooperation by signing a strategic partnership agreement, which is valid for an unlimited amount of time.
In August, CNIPA was rebranded from what was known as the State Intellectual Property Office, following a reform of China’s IP agencies. The newly-named office now also handles trademarks and geographical indications, as well as patents, utility models and designs.
Campinos said the partnership is of paramount importance to the EPO.
“I am very pleased to have my first official meeting with commissioner Shen to discuss how we can further improve the patent system to better serve users in both of our regions.
“By continuing our co-operation and close consultation also with Chinese and European industry, we strive to enhance the quality of our patent-granting procedures in order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the global patent system,” he said.
Campinos added that the offices will look at boosting co-operation on inventions directed to new technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain and big data.
China is an important partner for the EPO, accounting for the fifth highest number of European patent applications in 2017 (8,330)—an increase of 17% on 2016. Chinese company Huawei claimed the top filing spot, after applying for 2,398 patents in 2017.
A day before the CNIPA announcement, on Monday, September 24, the EPO also revealed that Campinos had met Spanish government and IP officials the week before, in what was his first official visit to Spain as EPO president.
Campinos took over from Benoît Battistelli in July.
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