Press Releases

The European Patent Office (EPO) and the national patent offices of its member states met in Lemesos on 24 - 25 May 2018 to discuss how to advance co-operation in order to improve the quality and efficiency of the European patent system, and better serve inventors and industry.

The 12^th annual meeting of EPO was attended by representatives of 37 national patent offices, including the EPO’s two extension states, and the EU Intellectual Property Office in an observer capacity. This year's conference marked the completion of the co-operation roadmap, which was launched in 2012 and since then, the EPO has invested some EUR150 million in joint activities and projects with its member states.

Opening the meeting, EPO President, Mr Benoît Battistelli, highlighted the progress and achievements of the co-operation roadmap over the past seven years.  “Our co-operation has established itself on a firm footing and has delivered tangible results by working together and exchanging best practices,” Mr Battistelli said. “Our aim is to provide an effective and user-friendly patent system in Europe, because patents facilitate access to the internal market and add to attracting foreign investments. Patent protection helps to boost the national economy and in particular SMEs to gain more business and markets.”

Addressing the conference, the Minister of Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism, Mr Yiorgos Lakkotrypis, noted that “EPO’s targeted co-operation activities, in support of the services offered to patent system users throughout its member states, are truly invaluable to national institutions.” Minister further noted that innovation is key to the success of any enterprise strategy and many new industries in Cyprus today, are heavily investing in new technologies, and “we know that for them patent protection is of enormous commercial significance”, as he said. 

EPO conference also overviewed some of the latest economic and technology topics. A number of Cypriot innovation and research initiatives gave presentations on their success in using the patent system, which highlighted the impact of patent protection on trade and investment in the EU market, and with foreign commercial partners. With regards to technology advances, EPO presented a new service for users that links patent data with other data resources available on the internet, making patent information more accessible to the general public.

Moreover and ahead of the conference, Minister of Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism, Mr Yiorgos Lakkotrypis, held a tête-à-tête meeting with EPO President, Mr Benoît Battistelli, with whom he exchanged views on how to strengthen the use of the patent system in Cyprus. Other issues of discussions were the recent developments in intellectual property, particularly the role of patent protection in supporting innovation, in technology trade and in attracting foreign direct investment.

The unitary patent scheme with its simplified and cost-effective procedures is set to be a milestone in the development of the patent system in Europe and smaller entities, such as SMEs, start-ups and academic institutions is expected to particularly benefit from it. In this context, improved co-operation between the EPO and the Department of the Registrar of Companies and Official Receiver for ensuring better use of the patent system by SMEs in the future was also discussed.

This year’s EPO annual meeting was co-hosted by the EPO and the Department of the Registrar of Companies and Official Receiver, represented by Mr Spyros Kokkinos and Ms Stalo Papaionnou. EPO conference was also timed with the 20^th anniversary of Cyprus accession to the European Patent Organisation, in 1998.

(ML/II)