The 34th annual meeting of the US Bar-EPO Liaison Council took place at the EPO’s Munich headquarters on 12 October 2018. Created as a forum to facilitate exchange with US applicants who form 26% of the Office’s user base, the largest from any single country, the Liaison Council brings together US stakeholders and EPO officials for a full-day meeting. President Campinos welcomed the US participants and, in his opening remarks, emphasised the annual meeting with US Bar representatives is highly valuable for better understanding the needs of US users. He also invited them to participate in a consultation that will take place in due course on the Office’s future strategy. EPO staff gave presentations on the Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court, Patent Cooperation Treaty Strategy, projects being undertaken by the IP5 (the forum of the five largest intellectual property offices), substantive patent law harmonisation, standard essential patents, Early Certainty and computer-implemented inventions (CII) in view of developments relating to Internet of Things and artificial intelligence. The US members updated Office staff on current developments in US patent legislation and litigation.

Source: EPO