Reaching new horizons in cooperation with our international partners

A delegation from the European Patent Office (EPO) has met with counterparts from national patent offices from around the world in the margins of the General Assemblies of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva.

The EPO agenda included over 25 official bilateral meetings engaging with representatives from various entities, including the USPTO, Canada, the African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation (ARIPO), the ASEAN region, Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), Latin American Countries (LAC), and the African Intellectual Property Organisation (OAPI). The Assemblies provided an ideal platform for the EPO delegation, led by President António Campinos, to strengthen relations with strategic partners and to discuss recent developments in the patent system and at the EPO.

These included co-operation on initiatives related to sustainable development; technology transfer and IP commercialisation; Knowledge Transfer to Africa (KT2A); and the validation system. President Campinos also informed delegations about plans for celebrating the 50th anniversary of the European Patent Convention (EPC).

During the three-day mission, the EPO concluded a Reinforced Partnership agreement with the IP offices of Chile, and Ukraine and a work plan with the Saudi IP Office under the framework of a successfully running Reinforced Partnership. Through this type of co-operation, partner offices engage in the re-use of EPO search and examination results in their own patent granting process, increasing predictability for the users. Currently the EPO’s work products touch markets that together total some 2.2 billion people, a testament to the quality of the EPO’s work. The EPO also renewed the bilateral co-operation Work Plan with OAPI which includes a training programme and capacity building to support OAPI’s transition to becoming an office providing substantive examination, and further developments of the KT2A initiative, which aims to raise patent knowledge exchange between Africa and Europe.

President Campinos also initiated discussions about the implementation of a new Validation Agreement with the IP Office of Georgia, as the country prepares for its upcoming entry into force in 2024.