[ffii] CEC exporting EPO practise to ASEAN

[PILCH Hartmut]

Under the ECAP scheme, countries such as Malaysia have decided to
automatically turn all EPO patents into domestic patents on request of the
applicant, without further examination.  Now this "success story" is
being continued:

http://www.epo.co.at/news/pressrel/2002_04_22_e.htm

...

The symposium marks the start of programme activities in Asia under
ECAP II scheme , which is supported by the European Commission and
implemented by the European Patent Office and the OHIM. Building on
the success of the first ECAP programme, which was launched in 1993
and ended in 1997, the present programme mainly focuses on developing
regional structures and policies in intellectual property (IP), the
legal framework of IP protection, the modernisation of IP offices and
the enforcement system for IP rights in conformity with the WTO’s
agreement on Trade-related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
(TRIPs). The programme is designed to run over a period of five years
and is endowed with a budget of euro EUR 5m (191 million baht). To
help facilitate the programme, a local co-ordination office has been
officially opened by Thailand's Deputy Minister of Commerce, Newin
Chidchob, and Ambassador Klauspeter Schmallenbach, Head of the EC
Delegation in Thailand. The office is located in the premises of the
Thailand's Department of Intellectual Property.

ECAP II specifically responds to the needs of the ASEAN countries in
their bid to participate in a rapidly expanding global market in
which the use and protection of intellectual property rights plays a
key role. At global level, nearly 700,000 new inventions from all
over the world are disclosed each year in patent applications, which
in their turn can be the subject of multiple subsequent filings.
Accordingly, global demand for patent rights rose from 2.7m in 1994
to more than 7m in 1999. This development is also reflected in
growing patenting activity in the ASEAN states and an increasing
tendency on the part of ASEAN companies to expand their patent
strategies to the European market: "In the past five years, companies
from ASEAN have increased their patent activities in Europe
significantly. Their number has risen from 15 in 1996 to 120 in 2000.
ECAP II is particularly suited to encourage this development and to
facilitate the way for ASEAN companies to enter the European market,"
says Dr Ingo Kober, President of the European Patent Office.

....

-- 
Hartmut Pilch, FFII & Eurolinux Alliance              tel. +49-89-12789608
Protecting Innovation against Patent Inflation	     http://swpat.ffii.org/
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