SUEPO, the trade union of the European Patent Office (EPO), announced, on Friday 17 June, that it has filed a petition calling for a conference of ministers to address the abuse of the Office over the past several years.
“The development of the European Patent Organisation (...) has increasingly departed from the structure and its mission as foreseen under the European Patent Convention (EPC) and it appears that no appropriate countermeasures will be taken”, the petition reads. “Therefore, we consider an external review of the EPO’s situation by a Conference of Ministers of the Contracting States under Article 4a EPC to be expedient”.
There are many grievances, particularly concerning the development of labour law (a long-standing problem - see EUROPE 12261/17). The union states that the EPO is “being more and more transformed into a profit centre”, which is “inappropriate for a public service with quasi-judicial bodies”.
For more information: https://aeur.eu/f/29u (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)