APTMA meeting with the EPO and IPOI
APTMA was very pleased to have had a such a constructive meeting with the European Patent Office (EPO) and the Intellectual Property Office of Ireland (IPOI). We’d like to thank both delegations heartily for their time on such a busy day of activities.
The focus of the meeting was a number of presentations from the EPO's deligation on the work they are doing to further improve their already excellent services. Steve Rowan very helpfully explained the advances the EPO have made in assessing the quality of examination and the EPO’s Quality Action Plan setting further quality targets. We’re also grateful to Emma Ó Donnabháin for her presentation on EPO quality metrics. Both made very thoughtful and detailed presentations, and the hard work being done by the EPO to improve their services is appreciated. Our only regret is that neither Steve nor Emma could stay for our annual dinner.
Thanks also to IPOI who facilitated the meeting and were also in attendance – especially their delegation James Kelly and Dolores Cassidy, as well as Claire O’ Reilly for her work behind the scenes facilitating the meeting. While it wasn't the focus of the meeting, it was clear that the IPOI are also improving quality of their services and that they are doing a lot of hard work which is also appreciated.
And, of course, thanks to our own delegation of our president Hazel Tunney and Denis McCarthy, Sinead Skrba, Triona Walshe, and Richard Gillespie for their time and contributions.