82nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN PATENT INSTITUTE

26.04.2017

From 23 to 25 April  2017 in Munich  (Germany) was held the 82nd General Assembly of the Council of the European Patent Institute, an organization of European patent agents, which has 11,500 members from 38 European countries. The Assembly was attended by 136 delegates, among them four from Macedonia. During this Assemble was elected the new president, Francis Leidern from Belgium, whose vice presidents will be Dr. Barbara Kunic, Slovenia and Dr Haik Fogelsang, Germany. New General Secretay is Roazh Pereira from Portugal.

Prof. Dr. Georgi Filipov and Bogoljub Ilievski, Macedonian and European patent agents had the chance to meet lots of their colleagues from Europe and members of the newly elected leadership, i.e. the President of the European Patent Office, Dr. Benoît Battistelli and Vice Presidents Dr. Raymond Lutz and Mr. Zeljko Topic. The Assembly also elected a new Disciplinary Committee. The executive director of BERIN and European patent attorney and Macedonian,  Vancho Damjanski, is elected as a  new member of this Disciplinary Committee.

The Assembly was adressed by the  EPO president, Battistelli, who emphasized the growing number of patents granted by the EPO (40%), making this organization took first place in the organization and productivity in the world. Europe is an exporter of patents and technology in the remaining four global "competitors": US, South Korea, China and Japan.

Most Innovative European company is Philips, and most innovative nation according filed patent applications per capita is Switzerland, followed by the Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Austria, and the new EU member states, Slovenia is above all, that the 20 seats in Europe. According to the absolute number of applications Germany is ranked third in the world, after the USA and Japan. According to the "strength" of patents, it is in second place, after the United States.

The Assembly adopted the reports of the reporting groups  and discussed the issue of restructuring in accordance with technological, social and political changes in the world. The Assembly has scheduled the next session in November to be held in Warsaw (Poland).