The goal of research project "uncertainty in the patent system" is to provide a quantitative analysis of the behaviour of EPO's applicants and of the uncertainty in the patent system this behaviour induces. Overly long pendency times are a cost to both EPO (due to the increased pendency time induced by the additional workload that behaviours creating uncertainty imply) and to society (due to the problem that the final scope of the claims of the granted patent is unknown), so that there is a joint interest for an analysis of how and why patent applications differ, and for whether or not this difference may be traced back to applicants who willingly create uncertainty.
Project(s)
Uncertainty in the Patent System: Quantitative Analysis of EPO data