EPO

The European Patent Office (EPO) is an organ of the European Patent Organisation, an intergovernmental organisation that was set up on 7 October 1977 on the basis of the European Patent Convention (EPC) signed in Munich in 1973. The EPO is responsible for the uniform procedure to grant European patents. Once the EPO has granted a European patent, the patent holder can validate it in every single contracting state. In the future, the EPO will also be in charge of deciding on requests for unitary effect of European patents under the Unitary Patent system.

251 articles available

Kluwer Patent blogger

EPO oral proceedings by videoconference: 47 amicus curiae briefs in case G 1/21

April 30, 2021

The ‘new normal’ at the EPO and more particularly plans to allow oral proceedings by videoconference even if parties don’t want it, have been leading to extensive debate over the last weeks. No less…

Thorsten Bausch (Hoffmann Eitle)

Will the EPO still be normal under the „New Normal“?

April 15, 2021

The European Patent Office has invited its users and stakeholders to take position on the first draft of its „Towards a new normal“ orientation document. My experience with such public consultations…

Olivia Henry, Claire Phipps-Jones (Bristows)

Neurim and Flynn v Mylan – Who is the real winner?

March 24, 2021

Although the case relates to treatments for insomnia, we suspect that the latest episode in the ongoing saga between Neurim and Mylan might result in a few sleepless nights for patent litigators…

Matthieu Dhenne (Dhenne Avocats)

Cross-Examination of French Judges (Interview Part II: Global Issues)

March 22, 2021

In the first part of this interview (see here), I already mentioned some of the preconceived ideas about French Courts, which makes France almost systematically considered as one of the last…

Kluwer Patent blogger

Teleworking is there to stay at the European Patent Office

March 21, 2021

The EPO has launched a public consultation on the first draft of its ‘Towards a new normal’ orientation document, discussing the post-covid organisation of the EPO. EPO Munich (photo Kārlis…

Kluwer Patent blogger

Number of EPO patent applications decreased slightly last year

March 19, 2021

Last year, 180.250 European patent applications were filed with the EPO, a 0.7% decrease in comparison with 2019. According to statistics published by the EPO earlier this week, medical technology (…

Thorsten Bausch (Hoffmann Eitle)

German UPCA Ratification - Now We Have The Salad

March 5, 2021

In my post "The German UPCA Ratification - at Schweinsgalopp towards Mautdebakel" on this blog, I cautioned the German Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection against ignoring the apparent…

Enrico Bonadio (City St. George’s, University of London), Luke McDonagh (London School of Economics)

The EU SEPs Expert Group Report – Transparency Issues

March 5, 2021

In an earlier post we considered the general licensing and evaluation issues raised by a report issued in January 2021 by the EU Group of Experts on Standard Essential Patents (EU SEPs Expert Group)…

Luca Falciola (Scibilis SRL Bruxelles, Belgium)

Early Disclosures of Patent Filing Activities Related to COVID-19

March 3, 2021

As of February 2021, it is still too early to have a clear and complete view of how the COVID-19 health, economic, and social crisis has affected patent filing trends and how innovation specifically…

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