European Patent Office (EPO) has partnered with business and technology service company Logica to launch a new patent management system that will reduce costs and improve timeliness for the patenting process in Europe.
The two organisationa are set to introduce a digital patent offices that will enable the applicants and inventors to register their patents for the processing of the applications in efficient and cost effective way.
The knowledge-based patent management system will help both those filing a patent application and those overseeing it, through every stage of the process and will replace almost all of the EPO automated processes that currently exist.
Logica will help the EPO establish a secure case management system, that will digitally process patent applications at all stages of the patent grant process including patent searching, filing the application with the office, publication of the application, substantive examination and the handling of legal remedies, such as opposition and appeal.
The case management system will support the filing of 250,000 patent applications the EPO receives per year, plus the electronic handling of some 2.5 million transactions being processed.
EPO expects the new system will reduce the number of applicant-office interactions, resulting in improved annual savings for the user community.
EPO president Benoît Battistelli said: "The objective of the agreement with Logica is to modernise our IT infrastructure in a way that not only benefits the EPO through a more streamlined grant process, but will also allow companies, researchers and inventors to realise important efficiency gains when using the patent system."
Under the plan, some users will be able to use the new process for online filing by early April 2013 while the project will be rolled out gradually until 2015.
National patent offices in Europe will also benefit from this project, through plans to offer them the new online filing tool under the EPO’s co-operation policy with its 38 member states.
