European Chapter of Global Patent GO——Introduction to European Patent Application

ancient but thriving europa

There is no doubt that Europe is one of the favorite regions of  for the people. The ancient continent of Europa, which is full of business, still firmly attracts the attention of people. Whether it is tourism, investment, or patent application, Europe is always the first choice for the people. In the past 10 years, the investment in Europe has far exceeded the total investment in the United States. Regardless of geopolitical reasons, the main reason why Europe is far more attractive than other parts of the world is probably: market, market, or market!

Europe's business environment, skilled labor supply, and strong infrastructure show the great potential and resilience of this ancient and huge European market. Chinese companies entering the European market have more partners to choose from. Chinese patent applicants, in line with China's outward investment and trade, have already reached 13,432 patent applications in Europe in 2020, a year-on-year increase of 9.9%. The number of Chinese patent applications in the European Patent Office has hit a record high. If a patent is only used for individuals, its charm will be greatly reduced, but if it is used for products or technologies, it will be full of charm and shine.

Introduction to European Patents

According to the "European Patent Convention", all technical inventions can apply for European patents. A European patent can be valid in all contracting states of the European Patent Convention upon request of the applicant's designation, and can extend the rights to extension countries and valid countries.

1. Types of European patent protection

Invention (in charge of the European Patent Office), utility model (there is no unified office and needs to be applied separately in each country), appearance (in charge of the European Patent Office)

2. Paths for Chinese applicants to apply for patents in Europe

Paris Convention, PCT International Application Entry into Europe, Direct Application

3. Review unit

The European Patent Office, EPO, is financially independent and does not accept funding from any organization or contracting state. All financial income comes from the fees paid by applicants and patentees. The total number of employees is 23,000. The core search business is never outsourced. In the survey of IAM magazine, the quality of products and services of the European Patent Office ranked first in the global evaluation for seven consecutive years. Since 2018, internal reforms have been implemented, the efficiency of prioritizing examination work and providing examination has increased by 4%, the backlog of applications has been greatly reduced, and the number of patent grants has increased by 18%.

4. Submit your application

1) Time limit requirement: EPO recognizes priority of 12 months, which can be extended by 2 months for reasonable reasons.

2) The application text can be submitted in any language, and the texts in English, French, and German can be supplemented later.

3) Online application software, new online application CMS system, Web-form, mail, fax and other methods can be used.

5. Formal examination

The EPO checks the completeness of the application documents ex officio, and only qualified applicants can confirm the filing date.

6. Mandatory retrieval

Whether the EPO search application is novel and inventive, after the search is completed, a search report is made and preliminary review opinions are provided. After 2017, if the EPO still does not see the prospect of granted after the applicant responds, it will start the oral examination procedure and use it as the first office action notice.

7. Disclosure procedure

Patent applications and search reports will be published 18 months from the priority date/filing date.

8. Substantive examination procedure

The applicant shall determine whether to request substantive examination within 6 months after publication, and pay the corresponding designation fee, extension fee and effective fee at the same time. From then on, the patent application can obtain provisional protection.

9. Substantive examination and granted

If the EPO considers that the grant conditions are met, and the applicant has paid the grant and publication fees, the EPO will issue a grant decision and publish it in the European Patent Bulletin.

10. Third Party Opinions

The EPO accepts anyone's opinion as to whether a European patent application is eligible for grant, but does not notify this third party of the final result. The third-party opinion before the application is not granted will be considered by the EPO, but if the patent application has been granted, the third-party opinion will not be considered.

Advantages of a European Patent

1. Wide scope of protection: One application can reach 38 member states, 2 extended countries, and 4 effective countries.

2. Low cost of application: The efficiency and quality of European patent examination and approval are guaranteed, which can avoid the large fees to be paid for separate applications in each country.

3. Unified examination standards: Unified continents and unified examination standards will not cause adverse consequences due to differences in procedures and examination requirements in patent laws of various countries.

4. High search quality: The applicant can decide whether to continue the examination process according to the search report, which can save the applicant unnecessary expenses and enhance the reliability of patent granted.

Friendliness to Chinese applicants:

★★★★★

Gold content of patent rights:

★★★★★

The degree of perfection of the rights protection mechanism:

★★★★★