Lionel Baranes appointed new Vice-President of the European Patent Office's branch at The Hague

Munich/The Hague 15.11.2002 (PROTEXT/ots) - TheAdministrative Council of the European Patent Organisation hasappointed a new Vice-President to Directorate-General 1 (DG 1)of the European Patent Office (EPO). Lionel Baranes (54) is thesuccessor to Jacques Michel, who has retired after 15 years asthe head of DG 1. Mr Baranes, a French national, is an aviationengineer and graduate of the prestigious Ecole Polytechnique. Heworked in the aerospace industry and held a top post at theFrench Ministry of Defence before being appointed Vice-Presidentof the EPO.

The European Patent Office is divided into fiveDirectorates-General, each headed by a Vice-President.Directorate-General 1 comprises the EPO's branch at The Hagueand its sub-office in Berlin.

With a staff of over 2 200, DG 1 is the largest of theDirectorates-General. Its tasks include patent searching,documentation, the substantive examination of patentapplications and the handling of oppositions to granted patents.Jacques Michel's particular achievements since taking office inJanuary 1987 include the implementation of a sweeping programmeof technical and structural modernisation, making DG 1 theworld's leading centre for patent search and documentation.Extensive automation measures have provided the EPO's patentexaminers with electronic access to virtually the entire stock oftechnical knowledge contained in patent documents and technicaland scientific articles from the industrialised nations. The useof the new search tools has already boosted the efficiency ofthe European patent grant procedure and paved the way forsignificant productivity gains, with a view to reducing workbacklogs and shortening the time required for granting Europeanpatents.

The benefits of the automation programme initiated byJacques Michel are not confined to the European Patent Office:The EPO's electronic search and documentation systems are usedby the national patent offices of the European PatentOrganisation's member states and by patent granting authoritieselsewhere. The documents stored in the systems are available tothe public via the esp@cenet(R) on-line patent informationservice, which is free of charge. ots Original Text Service: European Patent Office Internet:http://www.presseportal.de For further information, please contact: Rainer OsterwalderPress Officer European Patent Office, Munich Phone: +4989/2399-5012; Fax: -2850 e-mail: rosterwalder@epo.org

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