Speech of Professor Alain Pompidou at Europe-Asia Patent Information Conference (EAPIC) 2006
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Honourable Associate Professor Ho Peng Kee, Senior Minister of State for Law & Home Affairs of Singapore,
Honourable Ms Liew Woon Yin, Director General of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore,
Dr. Illka Rahnasto, Vice-President, Intellectual Property Rights, Nokia Corporation,
Distinguished representatives from Intellectual Property Offices in the region and abroad,
Speakers, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Ladies and Gentlemen
Good morning.
It is a great honour for me to be able to, once again, deliver an opening address at the Europe Asia Patent Information Conference or EAPIC. It is indeed a pleasure to be back in Singapore among friends.
I believe that "four times EAPIC" is already tradition and I hope that this tradition will be difficult to break.
Like the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore or IPOS, the European Patent Office, or EPO, dedicates great importance to patent information.
I believe, on the other hand, that the EPO is able to deliver one of the best qualities to the patent granting process that any patent office can provide to inventors and society.
Like in past years, we have the pleasure of welcoming experts from around the world. ASEAN IP offices are represented, namely, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and, of course, Singapore. I also extend a warm welcome to the delegates from China, India, Korea, Japan, USA and from WIPO.
Member States from the European Patent Organisation are also represented here today and I would like to welcome our friends from Austria, Denmark and Romania.
Austria and Denmark also have co-operation programmes with IPOS addressing search and examination of patent applications and patent information.The presence of all players here today demonstrates the importance of patent information. It also shows the economic interest that the Asian region creates in the rest of the world.
I am pleased to note the progress of patents developments in Asia. This proves that the past series of EAPICs has resulted in the minds of interested stakeholders as an iconic forum where national IP offices, industry players, IP professionals, service providers and technology transfer professionals – all look forward to attending.
Innovators seek to generate profits from the research work through the protection of their inventions by patents.
Patents give exclusive rights over a given period of time and specific territory. In exchange, the invention is published thereby entering into the public domain. This publication in turn generates a pool of information which, if managed properly, can easily be made available to the interested public.
Thus, thanks to patents, innovation breeds innovation.
From our first application filed in 1978, the EPO has now granted close to 800,000 patents for inventions. Since its creation in 1977, the European Patent Office has continuously grown in both staff contingent and sites.
Exploring new avenues of dissemination tools, the EPO entered the Internet age with "esp@cenet". This powerful free-of-charge on-line search tool directly linked to the vast EPO patent document databases, currently contains now some 60 million patent documents from all over the world.
The patent documentation of esp@cenet currently increases at a rate of 1-2 million documents per year.
esp@cenet offers, a user friendly and multilingual interface, enabling access to the most comprehensive patent databases in the world.
This brings not only instant up-to-date information but also assures a transparent patent system, open to everyone who wishes to obtain the required information.
The IPOS is a very good example as well. I believe that their "SurfIP" site linking patent information databases is a user friendly way is impressive.
It is highly likely that Industrial property will continue to gain importance in the way that we have seen in the last 30 years.
In 2005, the EPO received about 200,000 applications and our projections for 2006 and beyond are even higher.
Therefore, I feel confident when I say that the importance of patent protection and thereby patent information will not decrease.
Today, more and more patent information is being made available to the public. The challenge of today is the use of this information, how to make the most of it and how to gain a competitive edge for your business in a world of ever-increasing competition. The so called patent intelligence, that will help you to monitor competitors and technology trends, decide on investment strategies and on how to get the best value of patent portfolios for your business.
At present the strategic advantage lies in the valuation and exploitation of patent information, not anymore in the access to the information itself. A mere Internet connection suffices to access the information.
From an economic point of view, patents are a hidden wealth of information to evaluate and exploit the intangible assets of any company and the best tool to identify potential markets, monitor competitors and find partners or investors.
Here is where commercial providers have opportunities which can be exploited. In our view, patent offices should make available the patent information in the best way possible.
It is then for commercial providers to develop further tools to analyse this technological information to help innovators and companies in the development of their strategies and valuation of their assets.
The importance of IP is also reflected in world trade negotiations and agreements in which intellectual property and its standards, including those for patents, have become the very core of tough international debates.
Similarly, Free Trade Agreements or FTAs, seek to take intellectual property rights beyond the minimum standards of the TRIPS Agreement of the WTO through bilateral agreements.
The United States is a clear example here which has already concluded FTAs with numerous countries around the world focusing on IPRs.
But I would like to draw your attention to the following: No sustainable economical value for patents; no relevant management of economical risks; without delivering the best quality during the patent granting process.
It is even more important for users of patents than timeliness, or costs.
I am convinced that a high quality patent system is of capital importance to foster innovation.
That means a high quality search and subsequent substantive examination, leading to a granted patent only when a certain level of technical development or "inventive step" is present.
The EPO seeks to grant such quality patents with high presumption of validity as I believe it is the only way to minimise litigation by increasing increase legal certainty.
It prevents also the misuse of the patent system by unfair competitors that block innovation through "junk" or spot patent practices.
The EPO has already invested heavily in quality.
Access to patent information which is used in the granting process, training of examiners and better tools are only some examples of our efforts to increase our quality.
I would like to finish my brief intervention by thanking our host Professor Ho Peng Kee, for receiving us in this beautiful country. My congratulations and thanks to you for your dedication in making this event a success.
Ms Liew, Director General of IPOS, my thanks go of course to you as well as my congratulations to your outstanding team which has invested so much time in making the event a success.
It goes without saying that the organisation of an event such as the EAPIC is not done overnight and without the IPOS we would not have been here today.The co-operation between the IPOS and EPO dates back along time and it will be reinforced later when we will sign a new three-year bilateral co-operation agreement or Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to follow on from the agreement signed in 2003.
This will enable among other events, the continued organisation of EAPIC in the coming years and I believe that 12 and 13 September 2007 are already "hot dates" for next year's event.
Lastly I would like to thank our distinguished speakers from far and near for sharing their invaluable experiences with us.
To you distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I would like to say a word of thanks for taking time out of your busy schedules to attend this important event.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your attention.
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