EPO Strikes Drag On as Patent Grants Plummet; SUEPO Warns of Year-Round Industrial Action

The European Patent Office (EPO) is facing a prolonged wave of industrial action that has caused a measurable drop in patent grants. According to a statement published on April 16, 2026 by the Staff Union of the European Patent Office (SUEPO), approximately 5,000 strike participations were recorded over three days, resulting in around 6,000 fewer work products — particularly patent grants. Since grants are a primary source of income for national patent offices across EPO member states, the downstream effects are expected to reach well beyond the Office itself.

The dispute centers on the EPO‘s Salary Adjustment Procedure (SAP). A six-year review of the current SAP concluded that EPO staff salaries have fallen 6.8 percentage points behind the cost of living. The new SAP proposed by EPO management targets an additional €1.4 billion in savings for the organization — further eroding staff purchasing power, according to SUEPO. The union has also identified planned increases to pension contributions as an additional attack on compensation.

SUEPO sent an open letter to the EPO President on March 23, 2026, requesting engagement in SAP negotiations. As of April 16, no reply had been received. On that date, SUEPO committees from all EPO sites jointly issued a new open letter calling on the President to enter negotiations without delay.

The union has outlined a significant escalation plan. If staff concerns remain insufficiently addressed and no satisfactory resolution is reached, SUEPO intends to designate at least two working days per week as strike days starting in April, potentially extending to every single working day through December 2026. Such a scenario would represent an unprecedented disruption to European patent prosecution timelines.

The EPO functions as the de facto unified patent examination authority for European Patent Convention (EPC) member states, granting over 180,000 patents annually. A sustained reduction in grant output would affect applicants worldwide — including Japanese and U.S. companies relying on European market access — by delaying rights issuance and increasing prosecution costs.

The outcome of the EPO labor dispute merits close attention from international IP practitioners and any company with a significant European patent portfolio.