Staff Union of the EPO

The Staff Union of the EPO (SUEPO) is quite critical of the quality of patents granted by the European Patent Office and have even striked about the issue in 2008.

2010 warning: no legislative power for EP

In an open letter, 10 May 2010, SUEPO called for the EU to become a signatory of the EPO, rather than forming a different contractual relationship:

If a simple contractual relationship between EU and EPO is opted for, the procedures that allow the European Parliament to be involved in the legislative process (Art.218 EU Treaty) can be circumvented. Procedures allowing the European Parliament to hold the Commission accountable have no effect on a legislator - like the EPO - that is institutionally located outside the EU Institutions. The draft EU Patent Regulation 7 , which is based on Art.118 of the EU Treaty, incorporates the EPC which may change in substance according to the wishes of the 37 EPO Member states. Under a contractual relationship, an external legislator would be allowed to substitute into legislation under Art.118 EU Treaty. This would entail a loss of procedural rights of the European Parliament and introduce a structural inconsistency in the EU legislative process.

Related pages on ESP Wiki

• European Patent Office
• Patent offices have financial incentives to approve applications

External links

• http://www.seupo.org - homepage
• Quality vs Quantity: situation at EPO
• EU Patent legislation - Accession of the European Union to the European Patent Organisation, 10 May 2010 letter