​​EPO meets with GE Vernova

On 7 November 2024, the European Patent Office (EPO) held a meeting with GE Vernova, a global leader in energy technologies. During the session, GE Vernova’s delegation, led by Executive Counsel (IP) Theodoros Stamatiadis and Chief Financial Officer Yoshito Murakami, expressed their appreciation of the EPO’s emphasis on quality. They noted that GE Vernova shares the EPO's commitment to quality and acknowledged the valuable collaborative efforts that the Office is channelling into continuous improvement. 

The meeting was part of the EPO’s Quality Action Plan initiative to deepen dialogue with users. A total of 50 such sessions are planned for 2024, providing the EPO with a wealth of feedback and insights that help to identify areas for improvement.  

GE Vernova particularly valued the EPO’s prioritisation of quality, which aligns with the company’s own standards. In an interview given after the meeting, Theodoros Stamatiadis emphasised the importance of “striking the right balance between formality and substantial technical expertise”, a balance that the EPO largely manages to find in GE Vernova’s view. 

This is the sixth interview in the series “The voice of our users”. In each episode, we invite users to share their views on the EPO and our practices. 

Discussions also covered improvements stemming from validation and reinforced partnership agreements between the European Patent Organisation and national patent offices in non-member states, as well as feedback from the EPO’s operational directors on pragmatically addressing procedural requirements while continuing to comply with the Guidelines. 

About GE Vernova 

The multinational company General Electric recently restructured into three companies: GE Vernova, GE Healthcare and GE Aerospace. GE Vernova focuses on energy innovations that contribute to sustainable growth and development. In the EPO’s 2023 Patent Index, General Electric ranked 34th among the top applicants at the EPO, with 558 European patent applications.