November 6, 2023
Exchange Meeting at the Chair of Corporate and Intellectual Property Law, Munich
Companies from various industries presented about their need for enforceable patents
Constructive and open discussion with Members of the Administrative Council
Management of the EPO did not accept the invitation
July 3, 2023
EPO letter to the IPQC
- EPO comments on the previous email sent by the IPQC
- In doing so, the EPO refuses most of IPQC’s quality concerns
June 22, 2023
IPQC letter to the EPO
- IPQC shares the most important findings from the “Osnabruecker Patenttage” with the EPO
- IPQC again offers to enter into a constructive and continuous dialogue with the EPO on improving patent quality
June 15, 2023
Publication by the Central Staff Committee (CSC)
- The CSC sees it as questionable whether the current examining procedure (redistributing patent applications among different technical teams) contributes to a further enhancement of patent quality
- The CSC points out that the figures show that far too many files are treated by Examining Divisions outside the appropriate technical field
June 15, 2023
EPO letter to the IPQC
With reference to the already existing communications channels, the EPO wants to stop the direct communication channel with IPQC.
May 25/26, 2023
“Osnabruecker Patenttage”
- IPQC members and the University of Osnabrueck invited to a panel discussion on May 25, 2023
- Topic of this discussion were measures to increase patent quality
- Unfortunately, the EPO did not accept the invitation of the IPQC and did not attend the event
May 12, 2023
IPQC letter to the EPO after the 2nd meeting
- IPQC repeats its suggestion to split the topics into joint working groups and offers to organise corresponding workshops over the next months
- IPQC repeats its request for further information on capacity management since some questions were left open
May 8, 2023
2nd meeting with EPO
April 24, 2023
IPQC requests further information from EPO
- To prepare the upcoming meeting, IPQC requests further information about the EPO’s capacity planning in the relevant areas (Search and Examination, Examining Division, Reward System, Training)
- Unfortunately, the EPO did not share the requested data with the IPQC and therefore, the exchange of thoughts at the subsequent meeting was broadly limited to a denial of the IPQC feedback by the EPO
March 3, 2023
EPO letter to the IPQC
EPO suggests to have a 2nd meeting to further discuss the IPQCs’ ideas and let to EPO update industry participants on areas where improvement actions have or are already being taken.
February 24, 2023
Publication by the Central Staff Committee (CSC)
- The CSC declares that EPO staff is ready to contribute actively and constructively to “put quality back on the EPO’s agenda”
- The CSC points out that the staff would be perfectly capable to carry out searches and examinations of the highest quality but mismanagement results in decreasing quality
February 8, 2023
IPQC letter to the EPO
- IPQC summarises its requests to the EPO addressed in the 1st meeting
- IPQC suggests to split the topics mentioned into joint working groups and offers to organise corresponding workshops over the next months
- IPQC requests processual data
February 3, 2023
1st meeting with EPO
December 15, 2022
IPQC letter to the EPO
- IPQC summarises the Charter members’ commitments as well as their expectations
- IPQC requests a collective meeting between the Charter members and the EPO
December 8, 2022
IPQC Roundtable
- High participation from national patent offices, the German Ministry of Justice, practitioners, small and big companies, academia, press and other interested parties
- For over 90 minutes, over 70 attendees intensively discussed what Industry could contribute to increase patent quality and what the expectations and requests towards the patent offices (in particular, the EPO) are
- Unfortunately, the EPO did not accept the invitation of the IPQC and did not attend the event
December 7, 2022
EPO letter to the IPQC
- EPO declines to be present at the IPQC Roundtable
- EPO mentions that it is prepared to organise a collective meeting with the IPQC in early 2023
October 2022
IPQC founding