European Round Table on Patent Practice

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The European Round Table on Patent Practice (EUROTAB) is described as "a pan-European group consisting of lawyers (including European Patent Office (EPO) staff, and Commission, national patent offices) in the patent field", [1] or a body where the national patent offices of the Contracting States of the European Patent Convention (EPC) and the European Patent Office come together to discuss differences in practice and see whether a harmonized approach is possible. [2]

Contents

Along with the Standing Advisory Committee before the European Patent Office (SACEPO), a committee advising the European Patent Office on patent law issues, and the European Patent Judges' Symposium, EUROTAB is one of the most significant and institutionalised forums of legal professionals created and sponsored by the EPO. [1] Already in the 1990s, "the strong interest and active participation of contracting states in these discussions confirm[ed] the growing importance of EUROTAB as an expert forum on patent practice in Europe". [3]

Meetings

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European Patent Office organization

The European Patent Office (EPO) is one of the two organs of the European Patent Organisation (EPOrg), the other being the Administrative Council. The EPO acts as executive body for the organisation while the Administrative Council acts as its supervisory body as well as, to a limited extent, its legislative body. The actual legislative power to revise the European Patent Convention lies with the Contracting States themselves when meeting at a Conference of the Contracting States.

The European Patent Organisation is a public international organisation created in 1977 by its contracting states to grant patents in Europe under the European Patent Convention (EPC) of 1973. The European Patent Organisation has its seat at Munich, Germany, and has administrative and financial autonomy.

European Patent Convention International patent treaty

The European Patent Convention (EPC), also known as the Convention on the Grant of European Patents of 5 October 1973, is a multilateral treaty instituting the European Patent Organisation and providing an autonomous legal system according to which European patents are granted. The term European patent is used to refer to patents granted under the European Patent Convention. However, a European patent is not a unitary right, but a group of essentially independent nationally enforceable, nationally revocable patents, subject to central revocation or narrowing as a group pursuant to two types of unified, post-grant procedures: a time-limited opposition procedure, which can be initiated by any person except the patent proprietor, and limitation and revocation procedures, which can be initiated by the patent proprietor only.

The EPC 2000 or European Patent Convention 2000 is the version of the European Patent Convention (EPC) as revised by the Act Revising the Convention on the Grant of European Patents signed in Munich on November 29, 2000. On June 28, 2001, the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation adopted the final new text of the EPC 2000. The EPC 2000 entered into force on December 13, 2007.

The European Patent Convention (EPC), the multilateral treaty instituting the legal system according to which European patents are granted, contains provisions allowing a party to appeal a decision issued by a first instance department of the European Patent Office (EPO). For instance, a decision of an Examining Division refusing to grant a European patent application may be appealed by the applicant. The appeal procedure before the European Patent Office is under the responsibility of its Boards of Appeal, which are institutionally independent within the EPO.

The opposition procedure before the European Patent Office (EPO) is a post-grant, contentious, inter partes, administrative procedure intended to allow any European patent to be centrally opposed. European patents granted by the EPO under the European Patent Convention (EPC) may be opposed by any person from the public. This happens often when some prior art was not found during the grant procedure, but was only known by third parties.

London Agreement (2000)

The London Agreement, formally the Agreement on the application of Article 65 of the Convention on the Grant of European Patents and sometimes referred to as the London Protocol, is a patent law agreement concluded in London on 17 October 2000 and aimed at reducing the translation costs of European patents granted under the European Patent Convention (EPC). The London Agreement is an optional agreement between member states of the European Patent Organisation, and has not altered other language requirements applying to European patent applications prior to grant.

The Official Journal of the European Patent Office is a monthly trilingual publication of the European Patent Office (EPO). It contains "notices and information of a general character issued by the President of the European Patent Office, as well as any other information relevant to [the European Patent Convention (EPC)] or its implementation". The Official Journal is published in German, English and French, the three official languages of the EPO. The three texts coexist in the same issue of the journal. The journal is published on the last day of the month.

The European Patent Bulletin is a weekly trilingual publication of the European Patent Office (EPO), generally issued every Wednesday. It contains "entries made in the Register of European Patents, as well as other particulars, the publication of which is prescribed by [the European Patent Convention (EPC)] or its implementation".

The European Patent Convention (EPC), the multilateral treaty providing the legal system according to which European patents are granted, contains provisions regarding whether a natural or juristic person needs to be represented in proceedings before the European Patent Office (EPO).

Grant procedure before the European Patent Office

The grant procedure before the European Patent Office (EPO) is an ex parte, administrative procedure, which includes the filing of a European patent application, the examination of formalities, the establishment of a search report, the publication of the application, its substantive examination, and the grant of a patent, or the refusal of the application, in accordance with the legal provisions of the European Patent Convention (EPC). The grant procedure is carried out by the EPO under the supervision of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation. The patents granted in accordance with the EPC are called European patents.

In European patent law, the limitation and revocation procedures before the European Patent Office (EPO) are post-grant, ex parte, administrative procedures allowing any European patent to be centrally limited by an amendment of the claims or revoked, respectively. 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 Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation is one of the two organs of the European Patent Organisation (EPOrg), the other being the European Patent Office (EPO). The Administrative Council acts as the Organisation's supervisory body as well as, to a limited extent, its legislative body. The actual legislative power to revise the European Patent Convention lies with the Contracting States themselves when meeting at a Conference of the Contracting States. In contrast, the EPO acts as executive body of the Organisation.

The European Patent Judges' Symposium is a biennial symposium, with the claimed aim of providing a platform for national judges from legal systems with differing traditions to exchange experiences and to thereby promote mutual understanding in the development of European patent law.

Under case number G 3/08, the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the EPO issued on May 12, 2010 an opinion in response to questions referred to it by the President of the European Patent Office (EPO), Alison Brimelow, on October 22, 2008. The questions subject of the referral related to the patentability of programs for computers under the European Patent Convention (EPC) and were, according to the President of the EPO, of fundamental importance as they related to the definition of "the limits of patentability in the field of computing." In a 55-page long opinion, the Enlarged Board of Appeal considered the referral to be inadmissible because no divergent decisions had been identified in the referral.

During the grant procedure before the European Patent Office (EPO), divisional applications can be filed under Article 76 EPC. A divisional application, sometimes called European divisional application, is a new patent application which is separate and independent from the parent application, unless specific provisions in the European Patent Convention (EPC) require something different.

Under the European Patent Convention (EPC), a petition for review is a request to the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office (EPO) to review a decision of a board of appeal. The procedure was introduced in Article 112a EPC when the EPC was revised in 2000, to form the so-called "EPC 2000". A petition for review can essentially only be based on a fundamental procedural defect. Its purpose is not to obtain a reconsideration of the application of substantive law, such as points relating to patentability. The petition is a restricted form of judicial review, limited to examining serious errors of procedure which might have been committed by the Legal or Technical Boards of Appeal, prejudicing the right to a fair hearing of one or more appellants. Before the entry into force of the EPC 2000 in December 2007, it was not possible for a party who did not have his requests granted in an appeal to challenge the final decision of the Legal or Technical Board of Appeal on any grounds.

Under the European Patent Convention (EPC), any third party –i.e., essentially any person– may file observations on the patentability of an invention which is the subject of a European patent application or, after grant, subject of a European patent, especially to draw the attention of the European Patent Office (EPO) to some relevant prior art documents. This is a form of public participation in the examination of patent applications.

References

  1. 1 2 Susana Borrás, The governance of the European patent system: effective and legitimate?, Economy and Society, Volume 35, Number 4, November 2006, pp. 594-610(17), ISSN   0308-5147 (Publisher: Routledge).
  2. ↑ 2006 Patent Cooperation Treaty Conference: Transcript of Proceedings Archived 2006-08-29 at the Wayback Machine , William Mitchell Law Review, Vol. 32:4
  3. 1 2 3 Council of Europe Staff, Council of Europe, P Leuprecht, J Schwietzke, European Yearbook 1994, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1996, page 19, ISBN   90-411-0193-4
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Agendas and minutes". European Patent Office. Archived from the original on 2012-09-21. Retrieved July 21, 2012.
  5. ↑ European Patent Office, CA/PL 7/99, Revision of the EPC: Articles 52(4) and 54(5), 1999.
  6. ↑ Official Journal of the EPO (OJ EPO), 7/1997, Report on the 67th meeting of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation (10 to 13 June 1997), p. 316.
  7. 1 2 European Patent Office web site, EPO Annual Report 1998, International affairs. Consulted on March 21, 2008.
  8. ↑ (in Spanish and English) Oficina Española de Patentes y Marcas, Memoria de Actividades. Report on the Activities [ permanent dead link ], pages 44-45 (2.3.1. EUROTAB Meeting in Madrid), 2001.
  9. ↑ World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) web site, Annual Technical Report 2002 on Patent Information Activities submitted by Ireland (SCIT/ATR/PI/2002/IE) Archived 2011-06-05 at the Wayback Machine . Consulted on March 21, 2008.
  10. ↑ Hungary Patent Office, Annual Report 2004, pages 7 and 46. (pdf)
  11. ↑ European Patent Office web site, EPO Annual Report 2005, Developments in the European patent system Archived 2008-07-04 at the Wayback Machine . Consulted on March 21, 2008.
  12. ↑ Slovenian Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) web site, Eurotab 2006, Announcements, June 9, 2006. Consulted on March 21, 2008.
  13. ↑ Calendar of events, OJ EPO, 4/2008
  14. ↑ epi web site, Calendar of events - 2009 [ permanent dead link ]. Consulted on April 13, 2009.
  15. ↑ "Announcements". European Patent Office. Archived from the original on 2012-09-21. Retrieved July 21, 2012.
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