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Background: EPO and SIPO move ahead to secure IPR
6 June 2008
Over the coming years, the Chinese State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) is expected to become the largest patent office in the world. The sheer number of patent applications to the SIPO - currently over 200 000 per year, only surpassed by Japan and the US - and the growing role of China in the global economy present major challenges to intellectual property rights (IPR). The European Patent Office (EPO) is working closely with the SIPO to secure IPR in China and to further align the Chinese patenting system with international patenting practice.
The relationship between the EPO and Chinese patent authorities is built on over 22 years of combined efforts that was first formalized with a Treaty of Cooperation, signed 11 June 1985. Bilateral relations between the EPO and the SIPO took another step forward on 29 June 2007, with the signing of an Agreement on Strategic Partnership to tackle specific current challenges. The Agreement is strongly influenced by European Union policies regarding intellectual property (IP) in China and aims to build on the achievements of the past years of co-operation.
"When co-operation first started in 1984, the SIPO was just getting started; now it is bigger than the EPO in terms of its staff, and will play a major role in the future of global IP policy," said Gérard Giroud, Principal Director of European and International Affairs at the EPO. "This is why last year we formed a strategic partnership as equal partners."
Foundation for the road ahead
The partnership with China follows a long tradition of the EPO's co-operation with national patent offices around the world. "Ever since the EPO was founded, we have offered support to IP protection organisations worldwide," Giroud explained.
As examples, the Director pointed to relations with the Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle (OAPI) for the French-speaking African nations, as well as its English-speaking counterpart, the African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation (ARIPO).
Further partnerships include South American countries such as Brazil and also Mexico, Giroud said, "and a strong history of partnerships in the Asian region, especially Thailand and the Philippines for which we have implemented two EU-sponsored programs on IP so far." Moreover, 2007 saw the launch of a cooperation programme between the EPO and the Indian Patent Office to provide guidance and training to IP personnel.
"Relations with China have progressed from what was basic, initial support more than 20 years ago to what is now a strategic partnership among equal partners since the Agreement was signed last year," Giroud said.
Key initiatives
In the years since 1985, the EPO and the SIPO have succeeded in coordinating their respective patenting practices through a number of key structural initiatives:
Alignment of patent quality standards
To ensure equal quality standards of granted patents, the majority of the SIPO's 2,000+ patent examiners have been trained by the EPO. An additional 60 examiners per year receive training at EPO centres in The Hague, Munich and Vienna.
Shared standards of automated patent filing
In the mid-1990s, the SIPO adopted the EPOQUE system, an international search database for patents. The resulting compatibility of archived patent information is now the basis of all digital data exchange.
Regular exchange of patent data and documentation
The EPO and the SIPO share patent databases with synchronisation at weekly intervals. The SIPO has also recently opened its 32 000-entry database on traditional Chinese medicine to the EPO and its member states.
Automatic translation free of charge
"It is also important to note that in November 2007, we reached a strategic agreement to develop an automatic translation tool for converting Chinese patent records into English," said Giroud. "Access to Chinese patent documentation is an important political breakthrough and the translation tool will also be available for use free of charge by patent offices around Europe and the general public."
This automatic translation tool for converting patent texts from Mandarin Chinese into English is currently being developed by a joint European and Chinese team. "The development of the underlying dictionaries is crucial to the quality of the tool," said the Director of the EPO's China Program, Pedro Osona.
A working prototype - or Beta version - is already available for use in China, Osona explained. The EPO estimates that the total cost of the automatic translation tool will be €300,000 to €1 million.
Once complete, the translation tool will make Chinese patent texts available in English to the EPO and its member states through shared databases. The general public will also receive free access to the tool via the Internet.
"It is very important to have access to Chinese patent records and this tool is the key," Giroud explained. "After all, the main criterion for granting a patent for an invention is that it is new. And to ensure that, our examiners need to be able to check all databases for proof."
Strategic partnership at a crucial time
Further work is necessary. The single biggest challenge lies in the imminent explosion of patent requests presented to the SIPO. In addition to more than 210 000 patent applications, the Chinese patenting authority also received 60,000 utility models in 2006.
"Growth rates have been in the double digits over the past years," said the EPO's Director of International Affairs, Valentin Mir Guillen, adding, "The main challenge will be to keep up with demand."
Both sides agreed in the Strategic Agreement that a backlog of unprocessed patents would be detrimental. As a first step, China has committed to add 370 examiners each year to the roster of trained SIPO examiners.
A growing force in international IP policy
As a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and a growing economic force - after all, China is a market of 1.3 billion people - China will have more say in international patenting policy in the years ahead. Since 1994, the SIPO functions as an International Search Authority and an International Preliminary Examination Authority under the International Patent Convention (PTC).
However, violations of IP rights in China remain problematic. Addressing the issue, the EU-China Project on the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR2) was officially launched on 28 November 2007 in Beijing. IPR2 is a joint venture between the European Commission (EC), the SIPO, the Chinese government and the EPO. It is funded with approximately €10.5 million from the EC and approximately €5.5 million from China.
The EC is also setting up an Intellectual Property Rights Help Desk specifically tailored towards Small to Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) facing rights violations in China.
In addition to working to protect established IPR, China is taking steps towards establishing itself as a provider of quality IP. The Chinese government has launched programs to actively support IP development. This is reflected in the growing number of Chinese patent applications to the EPO - 538 applications in 2005, with telecommunications as a strong sector. At the same time, more and more European companies are seeking patents in China, with application numbers at the SIPO up to 23,988 in 2006.
IPR2 aims to provide an opportunity for healthy and fair growth for all involved. By strategically pooling their resources, the EPO and the SIPO have created a common structure that allows them to meet the challenges of intellectual property rights as equal partners in a growing global marketplace.
Further information
- International relations: China and Korea
- Patent information: East Asian patent information