EPO Finalises Agreement with IEEE

This article was included in our Winter 2009/10 edition of Inside IP.

The European Patent Office (EPO) has concluded a Memorandum of Understanding with the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Standards Association (IEEE-SA).  The IEEE-SA defines standards in fields including telecommunications, information technology and power generation in order to ensure that products from different manufacturers can work together.  The IEEE Standards Association has a portfolio of around 900 active standards and more than 400 standards in development.  This includes the prominent IEEE 802® standards for wireless networking.

In the Memorandum, the EPO and IEEE agree to share knowledge, information and documentation on technology and standards.  In practice, it is expected that the EPO will be given access to draft standards being prepared by the IEEE easily and without charge.  The draft standards may be prior art against later filed European applications, and so access may allow the EPO more accurately to assess the patentability of inventions.  The EPO has stated that it also hopes to conclude similar agreements with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).

Alex Bruce 05 Nov 2009

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