杏吧原创

Business is booming for the European Patent Office in Munich. When it opened
in October 1977, EPO officials expected a maximum of 30 000 filings a year, but
the rate is now 99 800 a year and rising鈥攂y an annual 14 per cent. And as
the EPO has also reduced its fees by 20 per cent, yet more inventors are likely
to use the office. To cope with the extra work, the EPO has set up a new scheme
which 鈥渂rings examination and search together鈥�. Instead of working out whether
technical descriptions make sense, and then searching through old patents to see
whether an idea is novel, European examiners will combine the two to speed the
process of granting patents.