EPO Examiners Visit CPA Hong Kong Office
On 24 March 2014, China Patent Agent (H.K.) Ltd. (CPA) was glad to receive five senior examiners from European Patent Office (EPO) at its Hong Kong head office. The visiting examiners were met by our assistant general manager Mr. Wang Jingchao and responsible senior attorneys.
At the meeting, Mr. Wang and the senior attorneys expounded on topics of relevance to the examiners, which covered cooperation between the Chinese attorneys and the European attorneys, CPA's experience with examination practice of various patent offices, feedback and suggestions on EPO's work, and filing strategies of the Chinese patent applicants. The guests also presented on topics of interest to Chinese patent attorneys, such as patent systems of the IP5 offices in comparison, structured patent search strategies, communication between the patent applicants and the examiners, and international preliminary examination report (IPER).
The presentations were followed by earnest discussion and exchange of views between CPA attorneys and the EPO examiners on a variety of issues. The examiners' in-depth explanation helped clear doubts about many issues, among them, telephone discussions with the examiners and oral proceedings, Asian patent search, the timing for filing divisional applications and amendments, latest examination practice related to such issues as the claims' lack of support by the description, amendments exceeding the scope of protection and unpatentable subject matters, as well as hot topics on chemical patents. After the meeting the guests were invited to lunch with our senior counsel Mr. Li Yong.
The meeting is constructive and beneficial to enhancing our attorneys and the EPO examiners' mutual understanding of each other's work practice and procedures, which is believed to contribute to a sound basis of cooperation between both parties in future.
