More manpower required to deal with cases: EPO Boards of Appeal
Significantly more manpower will be necessary in the coming years to ensure the proper functioning of the European Patent Office’s (EPO) appeal system, a report has said.
In an annual report, released today, the EPO’s Boards of Appeal said that although the boards managed to improve their performance and maintain quality last year, additional resources in the workforce and facilities will be necessary to ensure the proper functioning of the appeal system in the future.
The report added that, in light of the steady increase in the number of appeals filed, improving working methods and efficiency by a target of 32% will not be enough to deal with the stock of almost 9,000 cases “in a timely manner and at the same time secure the high quality that users rightfully expect from a judicial authority whose decisions are final”.
At the beginning of 2018, there were 148 chairmen and members of the Boards of Appeal. The 93 technically qualified and 27 legally qualified members were divided among 28 technical Boards of Appeal and the Legal Board, and the total number of staff of the Boards of Appeal was 202.
The Boards of Appeal’s five-year objective is to resolve 90% of cases within 30 months and to reduce the number of pending cases from the current 9,000 to below 7,000 by 2022.
According to the report, this objective will be achieved by increasing the efficiency of the Boards of Appeal by 32% and the allocation of additional resources for a limited period of time.
Efficiency measures include developing internal timelines for the main stages of the appeal procedure, revising the rules of procedure and setting objectives.
The Boards of Appeals considerably increased the number of technical cases they started work on last year, despite a major structural reform. In 2017, they dispatched 1,681 first communications in such cases, amounting to a 12.4% increase compared with 2016. At the end of the year, 8,896 technical appeals were pending—which was 515 (6.1%) more than at the same time in 2016.
The number of technical cases that were settled increased by 2.5%—to 2,284 in 2017—with the number of cases being settled by a decision or after a communication was issued and/or oral proceedings took place was 1,675 (a 2.1% increase).
Last year, a structural reform of the Boards of Appeal entered into force. This included a delegation of powers from the EPO president to the president of the Boards of Appeal and the relocation of the Boards of Appeal to separate premises in Haar, Germany.
Carl Josefsson, president of the Boards of Appeal, commented: “Despite the organisational challenges created by the removal to new offices in Haar, the Boards of Appeal were able to increase their performance in 2017, while at the same time maintaining the high quality that users rightfully expect from a judicial authority which renders decisions at final instance.”
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