EU Patent Registration Application Guidelines

EU Patent Registration:

European patents are granted for inventions that have industrial utility, absolute novelty, and creativity. As of now, the EPO has 34 member states and 4 extended countries (Bosnia, Albania and Herzegovina, Serbia, and the Republic of Macedonia). With the accession of Norway and Croatia on January 1, 2008, EPO granted patents became effective in 38 European countries (including 34 contracting states and 4 extension states).

1、 Required documents for application:

1. Request letter;

2. Claims;

3. Power of attorney (signed or stamped by all applicants);

4. Instruction manual, accompanying drawings (if any);

5. Summary of the instruction manual and accompanying drawings (if any);

2、 Application process

1. Filing an application: The applicant may file an application with the European Patent Office in one of the three official languages: English, French, and German. About a month after submitting the application, the European Commission will issue a notification.

2. European Patent Office search: A search request and search fee must be submitted when submitting an application. Received a search report from the European Patent Office approximately 2 years from the date of application, along with a preliminary examination opinion on the patentability of the application.

3. Publication of patent application: European patents will be published 18 months from the date of application.

4. The entire European patent process takes 3-5 years from application to authorization

5. European Patent Authorization: After the examination is approved, the European Patent Office will issue a copy of the authorization notice. The applicant chooses to agree to the authorization text and allow this application to enter the authorization process, or to modify the text or claims according to their own will. Simultaneously pay the authorization fee and submit translations of the claims in the other two languages. Additionally, it is necessary to check if the translation of the priority proof document has been submitted. After the above work is completed, the European patent is officially authorized and an authorization certificate is issued.

6. Request for substantive examination and substantive examination: The applicant shall submit a request for substantive examination at the same time as the application or within 6 months from the date of publication of the search report by the European Patent Office. At the same time as submitting a request for substantive examination, specific member states must be designated from European member states, and examination and designation fees must be paid. If 7 designation fees are paid, all contracting states of the European Patent Treaty can be designated, but the designation fee for extended countries needs to be paid separately. After filing the substantive examination, the European patent application enters the substantive examination procedure and usually receives the examination opinion from the European Patent Office within 1-3 years after filing the substantive examination.

7. Effective in European member states

Generally, after receiving the authorization notice, the applicant must decide to select the effective country from the designated country list and notify the European Patent Office in which countries the patent is effective.

After determining the effective country, according to the regulations of each effective country, it is generally necessary to translate the entire content of this European patent into the language of that country and submit it to that effective country for the European patent to take effect in that country. Generally, European member states require that the translation work be completed within 3 months from the authorization announcement and take effect in each country. The objection period is within 9 months after the announcement. Therefore, if the applicant needs to take effect in many countries, they need to prepare a significant amount of fees.

After completing the work that takes effect in different countries, the applicant owns patents from different countries, which are independent of each other and require annual fees for each one.