Nanjing citizen urged to apply patents in Europe, an EPO Official

A Higher Official from European Patent Office (EPO) Mr. Osona addressed on IPR protection at Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province, on July 30. He hoped more and more Nanjing inventors may apply patents in Europe, to better safeguard own IPRs in overseas market.

To enhance the understanding of European patent system and better help domestic enterprises and intellectual property rights holders get intellectual property protection in Europe, China's State Intellectual Property Office and European Patent Office jointly held "Seminar on European Patent System" in Nanjing yesterday.

Mr. Osona said, it is convenient to do electronic applications via EPOLINE of European Patent Office (an online service for EPO). Even though the patent applicants are in China, they can apply for patents in Europe through the network.

EPOLINE has a wide range of network service. Patent applicants can enjoy a comprehensive network of services, including timely search and query foreign patent applications in some industry, to understand the latest results of industrial development and the latest headway of a patent. In this way, patent applicants can learn from others' inventions.

It is reported that the period from application to approval will last approximately 36 months, although the fee for patent application is only 90 euros, but completing the entire process of patent examination and approval needs about 1600 euros. [Chinese version is available on Nanjing Daily]