Congratulations of Mr. Ron Marchant, Chief Executive and Comptroller General of the UK Patent Office to 10-th anniversary of coming into force the Eurasian Patent Convention

GREETING STATEMENT FOR EAPO

I am delighted to attend this International Conference and to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the Eurasian Patent Organisation.

The importance of Intellectual Property, particularly Patents, to enable the successful commercial exploitation of science and technology, is increasingly recognised around the world. As a result there has been a massive increase in Patent applications which has meant that all offices are faced with workload problems and applicants demand speedier and more efficient systems.

In Europe, a number of countries recognised the importance of international cooperation and agreed to found the European patent Organisation, with its executive arm, the European patent Office, for the granting of patents. Despite being around 120 years old at the time the UK Patent Office saw the need for such a change and was one of those original founding fathers of the EPO. The history of the EPO since then bears witness to the wisdom of that decision.

In 1995 the Eurasian Patent Convention came into force with the same objectives as those of the European Patent Convention and EAPO was brought into being. It has been my great pleasure to host Mr Grigoriev and the late Mr Blinnikov in the UK both for a Seminar on EAPO and also to see how we do things in the UK Patent Office.

I congratulate EAPO and Mr Grigoriev on the progress achieved over the last 10 years. You have much to be proud of. The UK will continue to support you as you carry on this important work.

Ron Marchant
Chief Executive and Comptroller General: UK Patent Office