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Thursday, November 15, 2007

2007 EPO Online Services Annual Conference Closed.

Yesterday, the

EPO Online Services Annual Conference held in Como, Italy, closed. The motto of the event was "End-to-end electronic processing - how to survive when the EPO no longer accepts paper". As of now, I do not see any report on results of the conference posted on the EPO website.

But well-known

IPKat Blog brings an

interesting report by Ms Barbara Cookson (

Filemot). In short, EPO did not issue any spectacular announcements. In particular, the President of EPO, Ms Brimelow, did not announce a particular deadline for the end of doing paper-based business with the Office (as some had expected she would do). Ms Cookson reports that within perhaps 3-5 years, but only when it is ready - as EPO President, Alison Brimelow, was careful to point out - end-to-end electronic processing will be the only option, and change we must. Obviously some more internal problems will have to be sorted out before such step can happen.

See also my

earlier posting concerning that matter.

[UPDATE 2007-11-28] See also

this posting on the EPO website:

"[...] EPO President Alison Brimelow has assured applicants that the European Patent Office will only stop accepting paper applications once both industry and the Office are "ready".

Her comments came at the sixth EPO Online Services Annual Conference in Como, Italy on 13 and 14 November, which was subtitled 'end-to-end processing - how to survive when the EPO no longer accepts paper'.

'We are moving in a rapidly changing landscape to which we need to adapt,' she told the conference. 'Changing the way we work is one way to respond to these changes.'

Speaking in the opening session, Ms Brimelow said that the future will happen 'one step at a time' and stressed that the move to the electronic world would be accompanied by training to ensure that applicants - as well as the Office - are prepared for the transition.

Ms Brimelow said that the Office would carry out research to assess users' needs and requirements and that products would be developed to meet these requirements.

The President went on to announce a new range of online filing tools that will be launched by the Office. She thanked Sweden in particular for pushing forward a browser-based client, aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). [...]"

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