New background material on EPC available

The book ‘The Granting of European Patents’ by M. van Empel has recently been added to the (subscription) website kluwerpatentlaw.com. The book was published in 1975, was out of print within a few years and has never been reprinted. This very useful book has now been made available again.

The book describes the development of the European Patent Convention from the first exploratory discussions till the Munich Diplomatic Conference. It is an indispensible description of the background of the EPC 1973. The book will be a welcome summary of the more than 30 000 pages of the Travaux Préparatoires EPC 1973, which the EPO has recently made available on their website.

In the time of the Munich Diplomatic Conference Van Empel was employee of the Legal Department of Philips in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. He obtained observer status at the Diplomatic Conference. This makes him an excellent source of information on the EPC 1973. The book is an updated version of Van Empel’s doctoral thesis.

The website gives the complete content of the book, including the 1973 version of the Convention and the Implementing Regulations.