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A Rule 62a EPC objection may however be contested by the applicant in its reply to the search division or, later, before the examining division. [17] If the search division finds that its initial objection was not justified in view of the applicant's arguments, the search will then be carried out on an unlimited basis. [17]
An opposition can be based on the grounds that the subject-matter of the patent is not patentable (Article 100(a) EPC, for instance because the claimed invention is not new or not inventive), on the ground that the invention is insufficiently disclosed to allow a person skilled in the art to carry it out (Article 100(b) EPC), or on the ground ...
EPO headquarters in Munich, Germany, where the Boards of Appeal were based until 2017.. Decisions of the first instance departments of the European Patent Office (EPO) can be appealed, i.e. challenged, before the Boards of Appeal of the EPO, in a judicial procedure (proper to an administrative court), as opposed to an administrative procedure. [1]
There is no general obligation for a party to be represented by a professional representative to act in proceedings before the EPO. However, a person not having either their residence or place of business within the territory of one of the EPC Contracting States (a "non-European party") "must be represented by a professional representative and act through him in all proceedings", except for ...
The European Patent Convention is "a special agreement within the meaning of Article 19 of the Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, signed in Paris on 20 March 1883 and last revised on 14 July 1967, and a regional patent treaty within the meaning of Article 45, paragraph 1, of the Patent Cooperation Treaty of 19 June 1970."
Under the former version of Rule 36 EPC, an objection of lack of unity of invention raised in a communication of the Examining Division could trigger a 24-month period for filing a divisional application, if the particular objection was raised for the first time. However, under the amended version of Rule 36 EPC which came into effect in April ...
These two procedures were introduced in the recently revised text of the European Patent Convention (EPC), i.e. the so-called EPC 2000, which entered into force on 13 December 2007. The new Articles 105a, 105b and 105c EPC (of the EPC 2000) form the legal basis of the limitation and revocation procedures.
Examination is the process of ensuring that an application complies with the requirements of the relevant patent laws. Examination is generally an iterative process, whereby the patent office notifies the applicant of its objection (see Office action). The applicant may respond with an argument or an amendment to overcome the objection.