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.
The interplay between EPO and national proceedings may take various forms. The Technical Board of Appeal revoking a European Patent during European-wide litigation is one of the more dramatic…
A reminder of the good old days, when many things were still normal...
I. Nemo Iudex
Once upon a time, the "nemo iudex" principle was a fundamental cornerstone of EPO Board Appeal proceedings, even…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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 (…
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…