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Meeting in Santander, Spain, EPO President Benoît Battistelli and the Director General of the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office, Patricia García-Escudero Marquéz, signed an agreement to promote the quality and efficiency of the Latin American patent system to the benefit of its users and of European industry ...

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our times. Fortunately, much can be done to address this challenge through technological innovation, including renewable sources of energy which help reduce carbon emissions. Governments throughout the world have embraced these technologies as a big part of the solution to climate change, and have implemented regulatory frameworks and incentives ...

The European Patent Office (EPO) has published a new product that builds directly on and extends the Patent Teaching Kit. Developed in co-operation with the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM), the IP Teaching Kit is a much more extensive set of teaching materials that covers all kinds of ...

The European Patent Office (EPO) in its function as International Preliminary Examining Authority (IPEA) has further improved its practice under Chapter II PCT, following the entry into force on 1 July 2014 of new Rule 66.1ter and amended Rule 70.2(f) PCT. Pursuant to these provisions any IPEA will conduct a "top-up" ...

The Danish people voted yesterday in a referendum in favour of joining the Unified Patent Court (UPC). The Agreement on the UPC will set up a single and specialised EU patent jurisdiction. Once it enters into force, it will be possible to obtain a European patent with unitary effect – a ...

The EPO's Economic and Scientific Advisory Board (ESAB) has issued a statement on the Unitary Patent package, based on a study commissioned to Europe Economics and a report of a two-day workshop. At its third annual meeting in February 2014, ESAB members decided for their 2014 ...

Standardization and intellectual property rights are key contributors to industrial innovation and industrial competitiveness. While standards ensure rapid diffusion of technologies and interoperability between products, patents provide incentives for research and development and facilitate knowledge transfers. Many standards comprise innovative technologies that are protected by patents. Public authorities and the standardization ...

The Hellenic Industrial Property Organisation (OBI) and the European Patent Academy organised the seminar “Patent valuation and commercialisation – Making the most of patents for business”, on 20-21 March 2014 in Athens. The event was organised on the occasion of the Greek Presidency of the Council of the ...

On last April 11th, the Spanish Council of Ministers approved on first reading the Draft Law on Patents, reviewing the legal system of industrial property in Spain, regulated by the Patent Law 11/1986 currently in force. The main objective of the new law is to adapt its regulation to ...

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has recently announced the launch of its new Glossary Pilot Program as part of ongoing Obama administration efforts to strengthen the U.S. patent system. The pilot, which will begin on June 2 and run through December 31, 2014, is designed to enhance claim ...