Chapter II
in forcePRIORITY
Section None
PRIORITY
The Organisation shall have legal personality.
The Organisation shall have its headquarters in Munich.
By decision of the Administrative Council, sub-offices of the European Patent Office may be created, if need be, for the purpose of information and…
The Protocol on Privileges and Immunities annexed to this Convention shall define the conditions under which the Organisation, the members of the…
The contractual liability of the Organisation shall be governed by the law applicable to the contract in question.
A European patent application may be filed by any natural or legal person, or any body equivalent to a legal person by virtue of the law governing it.
A European patent application may also be filed either by joint applicants or by two or more applicants designating different Contracting States.
The right to a European patent shall belong to the inventor or his successor in title. If the inventor is an employee the right to a European patent…
If by a final decision it is adjudged that a person other than the applicant is entitled to the grant of the European patent, that person may, in…
The inventor shall have the right, vis-à-vis the applicant for or proprietor of a European patent, to be mentioned as such before the European Patent…
Any person who has duly filed, in or for
An applicant desiring to take advantage of the priority of a previous application shall file a declaration of priority and any other document…
The right of priority shall have the effect that the date of priority shall count as the date of filing of the European patent application for the…
The European Patent Office shall examine, in accordance with the Implementing Regulations, whether the application satisfies the requirements for the…
The European Patent Office shall, in accordance with the Implementing Regulations, draw up and publish a European search report in respect of the…
The European Patent Office shall publish the European patent application as soon as possible
The European Patent Office shall, in accordance with the Implementing Regulations, examine on request whether the European patent application and the…
If the Examining Division is of the opinion that the European patent application and the invention to which it relates meet the requirements of this…
The European Patent Office shall publish the specification of the European patent as soon as possible after the mention of the grant of the European…
Within nine months of the publication of the mention of the grant of the European patent in the European Patent Bulletin, any person may give notice…
Opposition may only be filed on the grounds that:
If the opposition is admissible, the Opposition Division shall examine, in accordance with the Implementing Regulations, whether at least one ground…
If the European patent is maintained as amended under Article 101, paragraph 3(a), the European Patent Office shall publish a new specification of…
Each party to the opposition proceedings shall bear the costs it has incurred, unless the Opposition Division, for reasons of equity, orders, in…
Any third party may, in accordance with the Implementing Regulations, intervene in opposition proceedings after the opposition period has expired, if…
At the request of the proprietor, the European patent may be revoked or be limited by an amendment of the claims. The request shall be filed with the…
The European Patent Office shall examine whether the requirements laid down in the Implementing Regulations for limiting or revoking the European…
If the European patent is limited under Article 105b, paragraph 2, the European Patent Office shall publish the amended specification of the European…
An appeal shall lie from decisions of the Receiving Section, Examining Divisions, Opposition Divisions and the Legal Division. It shall have…
Any party to proceedings adversely affected by a decision may appeal. Any other parties to the proceedings shall be parties to the appeal proceedings…
Notice of appeal shall be filed, in accordance with the Implementing Regulations, at the European Patent Office within two months of notification of…
If the department whose decision is contested considers the appeal to be admissible and well founded, it shall rectify its decision. This shall not…
If the appeal is admissible, the Board of Appeal shall examine whether the appeal is allowable. The examination of the appeal shall be conducted in…
Following the examination as to the allowability of the appeal, the Board of Appeal shall decide on the appeal. The Board of Appeal may either…
In order to ensure uniform application of the law, or if a point of law of fundamental importance arises:
Any party to appeal proceedings adversely affected by the decision of the Board of Appeal may file a petition for review of the decision by the…
The European Patent Office shall keep a European Patent Register, in which the particulars specified in the Implementing Regulations shall be…
Files relating to European patent applications which have not yet been published shall not be made available for inspection without the consent of…
The European Patent Office shall periodically publish:
Unless this Convention or national laws provide otherwise, the European Patent Office and the central industrial property office of any Contracting…
Unless this Convention or national laws provide otherwise, the European Patent Office and the courts or authorities of Contracting States shall on…
The European Patent Office and the central industrial property offices of the Contracting States shall despatch to each other on request and for…
Subject to Article 139, a European patent may be revoked with effect for a Contracting State only on the grounds that:
In any designated Contracting State a European patent application and a European patent shall have with regard to a national patent application and a…