The European Patent Office and the patent granting procedure

Heli PihlajamaaEuropean Patent OfficeDirectorate Patent Law (5.2.1)

10.12.2009

European Patent Office - Mission

As the patent office for Europe,

we support innovation, competitiveness

and economic growth across Europe

through a commitment to high quality

and efficient services delivered under

the European Patent Convention.

The European Patent Office

The European Patent Convention

• Establishes the European Patent Organisation

• Provides a system of law for the granting of European patents via a centralised procedure - one language, one procedure

• European patents have the effect and are subject to the same conditions as a national patent

• Validation after the grant of the European patent - postponing and avoiding costs for translation

• Centralized opposition, limitation and revocation procedure

The European Patent Office

Structure of the European Patent Organisation

The legislative body

made up of delegates from the member states

supervises the activities of the Office

has a specific legislative function

European Patent Organisation

Administrative CouncilEuropean Patent Office

The executive body

responsible for examiningEuropean patent applications

On the basis of bilateral agreements acting as RO, ISA and IPEA under the Patent Co-operation Treaty (PCT)

The European Patent Office

36 member states

Austria • Belgium • Bulgaria • Croatia • Cyprus • Czech Republic • Denmark • Estonia • Finland • France • Germany •Greece • Hungary • Iceland • Ireland • Italy • Latvia • Liechtenstein • Lithuania •Luxembourg • Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia • Malta • Monaco • Netherlands • Norway • Poland • Portugal • Romania • San Marino • Slovakia • Slovenia • Spain • Sweden • Switzerland • Turkey • United Kingdom

European patent applications and patents can also be extended at the applicant's request to the following states:

Albania • Bosnia-Herzegovina • Serbia

Status: July 2009

The European Patent Office

Locations

The Hague Patent grant procedureInformation managementAdministrationLegal services

Vienna

Patent informationAdministrationEuropean affairs

Berlin

Patent grant procedureAdministration

Munichheadquarters

Brussels

Relations with the European

institutions and other

organisations/

associations

Munich

Patent grant procedureAppealsQuality managementAdministrationLegal servicesInternational affairs

The European Patent Office

Number of staff

Munich 3 629

The Haag 2 659

Berlin 276

Vienna 117

Brussels 4

Total 6 685

Around 60 % are patent examiners.

Stand: December 2008

The European Patent Office

The European patent

AdvantagesPatentability criteria Grant procedureKey figuresCost

The European patent

What advantages does a European patent have?

Unitary protection standards in the contracting states

• One application, one language, one procedure

• “A la carte” market by possibility of excluding countries from designation

Cost effective

Cost effective when protection is sought in at least four contracting states

Strong

• Thorough search – 169 million documents

• Substantive examination = sound legal protection

The European patent

What is patentable?

• To be patentable, an invention must:

– have a technical character (e.g. comprise a product, process or apparatus)

– be new

– involve an inventive step

– be industrially applicable

• Some innovations are not patentable under the EPC:

– for example, mathematical methods or formulae, computer programs and business methods as such are not regarded as inventions

– new plant or animal varieties and inventions whose commercial exploitation would be contrary to "ordre public" or morality (e.g. the cloning of human life) are examples of inventions excluded from patentability

The European Patent

The grant procedure at a glance

Search and searchreport togetherwith a preliminaryopinion onpatentability

Europeanpatentapplication

Filing andformalitiesexamination

Publication ofthe patentspecification

Applicant

EuropeanPatentOffice

Public domain

Substantiveexamination

Grant of aEuropean patent

Oppositionproceedings

Appealproceedings

Limitation orrevocationproceedings

Refusal of theapplication

Validation in the designated states

Publication ofthe applicationand searchreport

Observations bythird parties possible

The European Patent

EPO Fees

Total procedural fees EUR 4 825

Online applications EUR 4 745

Grant phase EUR 1 290

Examination phase EUR 2 305

Filing phase EUR 1230

Online applications EUR 1150

The European Patent

Fees and some reductions

• Filing fee (€180 or online filing €100) including additional fee (€12 for the 36th and each subsequent page)

• Search fee (€1050) (Reduction of the search fee in certain cases, for example when the earlier application was searched by the EPO as a national application)

• Where appropriate, claims fees (€200 for the sixteenth and each subsequent claim and €500 for the 51st and each subsequent claim)

• Translation - 20% reduction of filing, search and examination fees, when non-official languages of the EPO being official languages of the Contracting States are used (Art. 14 EPC)

• Designation fee for one or more contracting states (€500)

The European patent

78 684

62 755

83 548

63 013

0 90 000

2007 2008

Applications filed

Direct European filings

Euro-PCT applications entering the regional phase

Applications by residence of applicant (2008)

European patents granted

54 700

59 819

0 64 000

2007

2008

Patent revoked

Patent maintained in amended form

Opposition rejected

39.8%

31.6%

28.6%

Oppositions in 2008

Oppositions were filed against 5% of granted European patents. Over one third of all opposed patents were revoked.

5% Oppositions

Granted patents

Relating to EP or PCT patent granting procedure:

EPO Information Office Munich

infomunich@epo.org

Tel +49-89-23994512

EPO Customer Services

info@epo.org

Tel +49-89-2399INFO (2399 -4636)

Thank you for your attention !