EPO’s Quality Management System EPO: global quality leader in

EPO’s Quality Management System EPO: global quality leader in patent products and services Piotr Wierzejewski Quality Management February 2019

Our principles of quality and excellence Commitment Active involvement of the EPO top management Openness Granting patents with the highest presumption of legal validity Engaging with users Informed decision making Basing decisions on facts Involvement Empowering staff and management European Patent Office Legal certainty The EPO quality ypolicy Service Reliable, efficient and effective services for the benefit of users and society Continual improvement Continually improving trainings, tools, procedures and processes 2

Users' satisfaction with our core services increased 90 89% 85 83% 80 76% 75 70 65 2011 2012 2013 Search 2014 Examination 2015 2016 2017 Formalities Source : EPO User satisfaction survey carried out every year. European Patent Office 3

EPO's position as global leader in quality confirmed by 2018 survey of IAM Magazine EPO once more ranked n 1 for quality (consistent since 2010) Quality of patents granted by the EPO assessed as excellent/very good/good1: 91% of the corporate respondents 93% of the private practitioners 1 Source : Results of the 2018 benchmarking survey on IP matters carried out by the Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) Magazine. European Patent Office 4

Methodology of IAM survey 2018 Frequency: yearly Sample size: 900 respondents among IAM readers Targeted groups: IP professionals in senior positions: Corporate professionals working in IP-owning businesses Private practitioners Geographic repartition of respondents: Europe (38%), North America (31%), Asia (19%), Rest of the world (12%) IP offices included in the survey: JPO, KIPO, USPTO, SIPO and EPO European Patent Office 5

Our strategy to deliver consistent high quality Recruiting experts and investing in them Divisions of three examiners and consistent work methods Largest prior-art databases in the world Timely delivery of services A transparent review mechanism of our decisions Certified Quality Management System New agile structure mirroring latest technology trends More service and lower costs for applicants European Patent Office 6

Continuous recruitment of examiners 6 848 3 967 64 3 961 46 3 994 103 4 112 182 4 221 4 227 193 127 4 310 185 6 850 Total EPO staff 4 378 Examiners ( 411) 157 Examiners recruited yearly 2 881 2 472 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Other staff 2017 Source : EPO staff figures. Status: 31 Dec 2017. European Patent Office 7

No outsourcing of the core tasks of examiners Applicants' files are not processed by third parties Classification Examination Grant Search European Patent Office Core tasks of EPO examiners Opposition 8

Highly qualified and continually trained examiners Minimum requirements Master's degree in physics, chemistry, engineering or natural sciences Excellent knowledge of one official language (DE, EN, FR) and the ability to understand the other two In 2017 we received 15 000 job applications and hired only the best 1% Continuous, career-long training on legal and procedural matters 45.5 days initial instructor-led, interactive, classroom training First two years: on the job coaching by experienced examiners supervising all activities In 2017, 94% of all DG1 staff received training Over 800 technical missions per year to stay in touch with applicants Low staff turnover of 3.4% European Patent Office 9

Our strategy to deliver consistent high quality Recruiting experts and investing in them Divisions of three examiners and consistent work methods Largest prior-art databases in the world Timely delivery of services A transparent review mechanism of our decisions Certified Quality Management System New agile structure mirroring latest technology trends More service and lower costs for applicants European Patent Office 10

Consistent methods involving three examiners per file (1) §§ One legal framework The European Patent Convention complemented by extensive, regularly updated guidelines for examinations A division of three technically qualified examiners to search and examine a file One examiner carries out search and examination Agreement from other two examiners required before grant European Patent Office 11

Consistent methods involving three examiners per file (2) Another division of three technically qualified examiners to conduct oppositions At least two of them must have not been involved in the grant proceedings for the patent Mixed divisions for files related to several technical fields Ad-hoc examination divisions composed of examiners across several technical fields In 2017, about 10% of all decisions were taken by mixed divisions §§ An independent second instance for appeals The Boards of Appeal unit European Patent Office 12

Our strategy to deliver consistent high quality Recruiting experts and investing in them Divisions of three examiners and consistent work methods Largest prior-art databases in the world Timely delivery of services A transparent review mechanism of our decisions Certified Quality Management System New agile structure mirroring latest technology trends More service and lower costs for applicants European Patent Office 13

Largest prior-art databases in the world World's largest collection of documents Over 1.3 billion technical records of patent and non-patent literature Over 50 million patent documents of Asian origin Over 3 million standards-related documents CPC1 becoming the world standard for refined classification EPOQUE search tool: a benchmark used by examiners worldwide In 48 patent offices, including Australia, Brazil and China A 1 谢 Machine translation from 31 languages into English Cooperative Patent Classification: classification system for patent documents jointly developed by the EPO and the US Patent and Trademark Office. European Patent Office 14

Optimisation and enrichment of EPO databases 77 IP Offices Deliver patent data in full-text format Experts at the EPO Cross-link related documents Enrich data with classifications and citations Build patent families Standardise inventor and applicant names deliver patent data 00101100101 10110111010 European Patent Office add value to the data EPOQUE High performing prior-art search tool of the EPO 00101 1011 10110 010110111 15

Our strategy to deliver consistent high quality Recruiting experts and investing in them Divisions of three examiners and consistent work methods Largest prior-art databases in the world Timely delivery of services A transparent review mechanism of our decisions Certified Quality Management System New agile structure mirroring latest technology trends More service and lower costs for applicants European Patent Office 16

High quality search and opinion as early as possible Deliverables Search reports and thorough written opinions assessing the patentability of the invention Top-up searches at the start of substantive examination to source documents published after the initial search Objectives Identify as early as possible the documents most relevant for subsequent prosecution Enable the applicant to assess the merits of the invention early on Get it right the first time! European Patent Office 17

Speeding up our work processes Search reports Examination time Opposition time Delivering search reports within 6 months of receipt Reducing examination times to just 12 months on average by 2020 Completing oppositions in 15 months on average, while ensuring the parties are heard Actual Search timeliness: 4.8 months Actual Examination timeliness: 22.1 months Actual duration of oppositions: 22.4 months Objective 6.0 Objective Actual 4.8 Actual Objective 12.0 22.1 Actual 15.0 22.4 Source: EPO data – Quarter 4 2017. European Patent Office 18

Our strategy to deliver consistent high quality Recruiting experts and investing in them Divisions of three examiners and consistent work methods Largest prior-art databases in the world Timely delivery of services A transparent review mechanism of our decisions Certified Quality Management System New agile structure mirroring latest technology trends More service and lower costs for applicants European Patent Office 19

A transparent review mechanism of our decisions Applicants have the right to be heard in oral proceedings (Article 116 EPC) Any third-party has the possibility to make observations (Article 115 EPC) Any person may file an opposition to an EPO's decision to grant or refuse a patent Applicants have the right to appeal an EPO decision (Article 106 EPC) The Boards of Appeal unit carries out an independent review at second instance European Patent Office 20

Our strategy to deliver consistent high quality Recruiting experts and investing in them Divisions of three examiners and consistent work methods Largest prior-art databases in the world Timely delivery of services A transparent review mechanism of our decisions Certified Quality Management System New agile structure mirroring latest technology trends More service and lower costs for applicants European Patent Office 21

Quality Management System certification No no nconformitie s Patent process ISO 9001:2008 certification Patent granting process Search Examination Limitation/revocation Opposition Classification Supporting processes 2014 2014 1 Scope expanded to include ISO 9001:2015 Recertification of the patent process Patent information and post-grant activities EP Publication EP Register and Bulletin Post-grant fee handling 2015 2015 Audit on preparatory work for UPP to integrate into the patent process1 2016 2016 Surveillance audit of the patent process The scope of the QMS Yearly audit to assess the continual is the end-to-end improvement and patent process maintenance of the QMS 2017 2017 2018 Ratification pending. Integration in the QMS after a period of operative implementation. European Patent Office 22

Quality assurance throughout the patent process Operational Quality Control of products and processes procedure in place for non-conforming products Filing Conformity Assurance for Search and Examination in process control it is applied for all grants Operational Quality Control Search Examination Quality Audit Publication of the application and search report European Patent Office Conformity Assurance for Search and Examination Grant Opposition Opposition Metrics Appeal Quality Audit Publication of the patent specification 23

User feedback: a core element of our QMS Metrics-based feedback Customer services Satisfaction surveys Complaints Applicant filing patterns Market Research Actionable, high value and timely insights Other patent offices Statutory bodies (e.g. SACEPO) Meetings with applicants / user groups Partnership for quality EPO staff Non-metrics-based feedback European Patent Office 24

EPO user surveys: solid methodology Ca. 5000 in-depth interviews annually to assess user satisfaction with our services Search and examination: ca.3 000 interviews Formalities: ca.1 500 interviews Opposition: about 400 interviews Interviews in six languages: EN, DE, FR, JP, CN, KR Complementary specific satisfaction surveys i.e. dedicated surveys targeting Asian users Implementation by a market research specialist: BERENT1 1 BERENT is a member of ESOMAR (European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research) and BVM (Berufsverband Deutscher Marktforscher). European Patent Office 25

Our strategy to deliver consistent high quality Recruiting experts and investing in them Divisions of three examiners and consistent work methods Largest prior-art databases in the world Timely delivery of services A transparent review mechanism of our decisions Certified Quality Management System New agile structure mirroring latest technology trends More service and lower costs for applicants European Patent Office 26

Re-organisation of our patent process end-to-end (1) Less fragmentation, leaner structure, higher agility Three broad technical sectors to mirror latest technological trends: Mobility and Mechatronics Healthcare, Biotechnology and Chemistry Information and Communications Technology One end-to-end process handled by integrated teams Formalities officers embedded in examiner teams, under one management European Patent Office 27

Re-organisation of our patent process end-to-end (2) Higher efficiency in handling oppositions Opposition work concentrated amongst fewer expert examiners and formalities officers under a dedicated director Strengthened management oversight and involvement Executive Operations Committee chaired by the President European Patent Office 28

Our strategy to deliver consistent high quality Recruiting experts and investing in them Divisions of three examiners and consistent work methods Largest prior-art databases in the world Timely delivery of services A transparent review mechanism of our decisions Certified Quality Management System New agile structure mirroring latest technology trends More service and lower costs for applicants European Patent Office 29

Additional services at lower costs for applicants More service Patent protection in up to 44 countries 38 member states, 2 extension states, 4 validation states (Cambodia, R. of Moldova, Morocco, Tunisia) Improved timeliness Accelerated examination at EPO via PACE and PPH at 15 other offices via PPH agreements Efficient processing: PCT-Direct Machine translation of patent documents: Patent Translate Free online access to over 100 million documents: Espacenet European Patent Office Reduced fees EP fees stable since 2010 (only slight inflation adjustment) PCT fees not increased since 2012 (not even for inflation) From 1.4.2018: PCT fees reduced by 5% Estimated saving for applicants 25 million Euro in 2018 30

Interacting with users, training and supporting them Strengthening our user's understanding with internships ca. 100 EPO examiners on internships with patent attorneys in 2018 in Europe, the US, Japan, China and R. Korea Sharing our expertise with users on events and training Patent drafting training to improve the quality of incoming applications Informing on our patenting practices in key technology fields such as Artificial intelligence, Life sciences, Computer Implemented Inventions Delivering direct support for our products and services EPO Account Managers dedicated to supporting our top 600 users European Patent Office 31

Read more on our quality deliverables Quality Report 2017 Quality indicators are integrated in the Annual Report epo.org/quality epo.org/annual-report2017 European Patent Office 32

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