EPO queue jumping, part 2 - Don't be French

Part 1 of this guide to getting your application examined earlier started with a thought experiment: should a multinational's application get examiner more quickly than an SMEs. The answer is no, but the EPO may be subtly reminding examiners to prioritise such files nonetheless at the expense of smaller applicants. Now for an even easier thought experiment. You can do this one with your eyes closed, which of course is the recommended approach for all thought experiments anyway. Two applicants (Señor Lopez from Barcelona and Monsieur Durand from Marseille) file their patent applications at the EPO on the same day. Both applications are in the same technical area. Also, both are first filings for which the EPO is committed to providing a search report and written opinion at an early stage.

Q: It may seem like a trick question, but based on this information, whose search report will issue first?

A: Anyone but the Frenchman's. 

Yes, the astounding answer is that apparently the French applicant's case will be put on a lower priority list, solely due to the applicant's nationality. And it's not that the Spanish get extra special treatment; the same would be true if you compared M. Durand's treatment to that given to Dutch, British, Greek or Turkish applicants (and you thought we were all in this together?). For second filings, Merpel understands that French-originating cases have been bumped from priority 1 to priority 4, whatever that may mean in practice ... it doesn't sound good though.

Your first reaction to this, dear reader, may be to express disbelief. If Merpel's information is wrong, there are hundreds of examiners reading this blog who will no doubt put her right in the comments below.

Your second reaction is probably: Why France? Well, here Merpel is forced to guess. All she knows is that this discrimination started in June 2015, and she knows that to be the month that La Republique publicly rebuked Mr Battistelli at what was supposed to be his special day.

As Merpel reported at the time, the EPO travelled to Paris in June, followed by an enthralled media, for the celebration of the 2015 Inventor of the Year Awards. This event, a showcase of the Office and its publicly radiant President, was hijacked somewhat. The French Government reminded the audience from the podium that it had concerns about how the Office was being run. State Secretary for the Digital Economy, Axelle Lemaire said:

While it’s not the object of our meeting this morning, the French government knows of the social difficulties that are expressed within the EPO and in this regard, the Office has an exemplary duty of absolute transparency in the rights of employees working there.

Relations with the French Government have been decidedly frosty since then. However, even Merpel, a cynical old soul, finds it difficult to believe that this is the reason why French applicants have been penalised in the treatment of their applications. 

Nonetheless, if this is all true, isn't it a salutory lesson for members of the Administrative Council who might have been encouraged to follow in the footsteps of the French Government and the redoubtable Ms Lemaire?