\nYesterday, the
\nSACEPO Working Party on Rules met online – the first of two meetings planned
\nfor 2022 – as the EPO prepares a range of legal changes in support of the
\nfurther digital transformation of its patent grant process. The meeting saw constructive
\nexchanges of views between 12 high-level users representing, among others,
\nBusinessEurope, the epi, AIPPI, FEMIPI, FICPI and UNION-IP and members of the EPO
\nmanagement and legal and technical staff.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe EPO began
\nby presenting a series of proposals for amendments to the EPC Implementing
\nRegulations, including Rules 46, 49, 50, 126, 127 and 131. <\/i>These
\nproposals were broadly welcomed, with the SACEPO members agreeing that the EPO
\nneeds to fully digitise its procedures. There were lively and
\nconstructive discussions on how to best modernise the rules for presentation of
\napplication documents and on the proposals for modifying time limits calculations
\nwhere the EPO notifies a communication.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe EPO also presented
\na status report on oral proceedings by videoconference (ViCo), including the
\nlatest statistics and a general update on acceptance and satisfaction levels. Increasingly,
\nusers now stress the advantages of ViCo in terms of reduced environmental
\nimpact and cost savings, as opposed to hearings in person. Constructive
\nexchange on further improvements of the ViCo infrastructure took place with
\npractical ideas shared by the user representatives.\n<\/p>\n
\nAs requested by
\nSACEPO members, the meeting included an exchange on possible improvements to the opposition
\nprocedure, based on proposals made by the epi and written comments from other
\nmembers. The EPO also gave updates on its Central Fee Payment project and New
\nOnline User Engagement programme. It then reported on recent progress made on the
\nConvergence of Practice Working Groups, which are currently focusing on „examination
\npractice for computer-implemented inventions and artificial intelligence“
\nand „claim drafting structure“. Lastly, there was much interest in the
\nongoing preparations for the launch of the Unitary Patent and especially the
\ntransitional measures the EPO has planned to support its early uptake.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Yesterday, the SACEPO Working Party on Rules met online – the first of two meetings planned for 2022 – as the EPO prepares a range of legal changes in support of the further digital transformation of its patent grant …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"nachrichtenkategorien":[130],"class_list":["post-30436","nachricht","type-nachricht","status-publish","hentry","nachrichtenkategorie-epa"],"yoast_head":"\n