EPO and CNIPA confirm stronger ties in the fight against COVID-19
The European Patent Office (EPO) and Chinese National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) have committed to ensuring higher quality patents and greater harmonisation in the patent system in response to the pandemic.
The statement, issued today, June 30, by EPO president António Campinos and CNIPA commissioner Shen Changyu, outlined the “unprecedented” measures the two IP offices had introduced to improve access to users.
“[The] EPO has extended time limits and fee deadlines, as well as offering users greater flexibility by holding oral proceedings via video conferences, while the CNIPA has restored rights, reduced requested certification materials and waived fees for overdue patent annual fee payments,” it said.
The move signals the growing partnership and collaboration between the pair. Last year, the European and Chinese announced closer cooperation within the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) international filing system and, in 2019, the EPO received almost 30% more applications from the People's Republic of China than in the previous year. Meanwhile, European Patent Convention member countries also filed 42,000 invention patent applications in China, a year-on-year increase of 4.9%.
According to the latest joint statement, industries that intensively use IP rights play a vital role in supporting global economies. In the EU, they generate 39% of EU employment and 45% of GDP. In 2018, the added value of China's patent-intensive industries reached 10.7 trillion Yuan ($1.51 trillion), accounting for 11.6% of GDP.
The statement added that the patent literature provided by both offices remained crucial for research, as public databases such as Espacenet contain over 110 million patent documents, while the CNIPA's Patent Search and Analysis System provides medicine search and patent analysis.
The statement concluded: “In the current difficult time of the global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, the EPO and the CNIPA are united in our efforts to support users based on the long-term, friendly and dynamic co-operation between our offices. We will work together to ensure that our offices continue to support users as they navigate the challenges created by the global pandemic and as they emerge into a post-coronavirus landscape.”
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