9 December 2014Patents

EPO rejects staff worries over fall in patent quality

The European Patent Office (EPO) has rejected staff claims that the quality of patent examination will suffer if a reform affecting careers is rubber stamped this week.

An EPO spokesman told WIPR that the proposed reform, known as the New Career System (NCS), aims to achieve “exactly the opposite” of a fall in quality.

Yesterday (December 8), WIPR reported that staff had written to the EPO’s supervisory body, the Administrative Council (AC), calling on it to reject the proposal when it meets on Thursday (December 11).

Under the NCS, there will be changes to procedures regarding staff appointments and promotions, as well as new revised salary scales to reflect performance.

The letter sent to the AC, seen by WIPR, claims that introducing performance-related pay will harm motivation.

“There is an abundance of academic studies on the undesired effects of performance-related pay systems on public service motivation. It is not suitable for work requiring cognitive skills,” it said.

But an EPO spokesman said specific quality objectives are some of the “most important criteria” for assessing individual performance.

“Efficiency and quality are not a contradiction. Improving its timeliness is also an aspect of the quality of the European patent grant procedure,” the spokesman added.

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Patents
8 December 2014   Staff at the European Patent Office have claimed that the quality of patent examination will suffer if new career guidelines that could change how workers are paid are voted through this week.