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GENERAL AND INSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS
Art. 1 - European law for the grant of patents
Art. 2 - European patent
Art. 3 - Territorial effect
Art. 4 - European Patent Organisation
Art. 4a - Conference of ministers of the Contracting States
The European Patent Organisation
Art. 5 - Legal status
Art. 6 - Headquarters
Art. 7 - Sub-offices of the European Patent Office
Art. 8 - Privileges and immunities
Art. 9 - Liability
The European Patent Office
Art. 10 - Management
Art. 11 - Appointment of senior employees
Art. 12 - Duties of office
Art. 13 - Disputes between the Organisation and the employees of the European Patent Office
Art. 14 - Languages of the European Patent Office, European patent applications and other documents
Art. 15 - Departments entrusted with the procedure
Art. 16 - Receiving Section
Art. 17 - Search Divisions
Art. 18 - Examining Divisions
Art. 19 - Opposition Divisions
Art. 20 - Legal Division
Art. 21 - Boards of Appeal
Art. 22 - Enlarged Board of Appeal
Art. 23 - Independence of the members of the Boards
Art. 24 - Exclusion and objection
Art. 25 - Technical opinion
The Administrative Council
Art. 26 - Membership
Art. 27 - Chairmanship
Art. 28 - Board
Art. 29 - Meetings
Art. 30 - Attendance of observers
Art. 31 - Languages of the Administrative Council
Art. 32 - Staff, premises and equipment
Art. 33 - Competence of the Administrative Council in certain cases
Art. 34 - Voting rights
Art. 35 - Voting rules
Art. 36 - Weighting of votes
Financial provisions
Art. 37 - Budgetary funding
Art. 38 - The Organisation's own resources
Art. 39 - Payments by the Contracting States in respect of renewal fees for European patents
Art. 40 - Level of fees and payments - Special financial contributions
Art. 41 - Advances
Art. 42 - Budget
Art. 43 - Authorisation for expenditure
Art. 44 - Appropriations for unforeseeable expenditure
Art. 45 - Accounting period
Art. 46 - Preparation and adoption of the budget
Art. 47 - Provisional budget
Art. 48 - Budget implementation
Art. 49 - Auditing of accounts
Art. 50 - Financial Regulations
Art. 51 - Fees
SUBSTANTIVE PATENT LAW - Patentability
Art. 52 - Patentable inventions
Art. 53 - Exceptions to patentability
Art. 54 - Novelty
Art. 55 - Non-prejudicial disclosures
Art. 56 - Inventive step
Art. 57 - Industrial application
SUBSTANTIVE PATENT LAW - Persons entitled to apply for and obtain a European patent - Mention of the inventor
Art. 58 - Entitlement to file a European patent application
Art. 59 - Multiple applicants
Art. 60 - Right to a European patent
Art. 61 - European patent applications filed by non-entitled persons
Art. 62 - Right of the inventor to be mentioned
SUBSTANTIVE PATENT LAW - Effects of the European patent and the European patent application
Art. 63 - Term of the European patent
Art. 64 - Rights conferred by a European patent
Art. 65 - Translation of the European patent
Art. 66 - Equivalence of European filing with national filing
Art. 67 - Rights conferred by a European patent application after publication
Art. 68 - Effect of revocation or limitation of the European patent
Art. 69 - Extent of protection
Art. 70 - Authentic text of a European patent application or European patent
SUBSTANTIVE PATENT LAW - The European patent application as an object of property
Art. 71 - Transfer and constitution of rights
Art. 72 - Assignment
Art. 73 - Contractual licensing
Art. 74 - Law applicable
THE EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION - Filing and requirements of the European patent application
Art. 75 - Filing of a European patent application
Art. 76 - European divisional applications
Art. 77 - Forwarding of European patent applications
Art. 78 - Requirements of a European patent application
Art. 79 - Designation of Contracting States
Art. 80 - Date of filing
Art. 81 - Designation of the inventor
Art. 82 - Unity of invention
Art. 83 - Disclosure of the invention
Art. 84 - Claims
Art. 85 - Abstract
Art. 86 - Renewal fees for the European patent application
THE EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION - Priority
Art. 87 - Priority right
Art. 88 - Claiming priority
Art. 89 - Effect of priority right
PROCEDURE UP TO GRANT
Art. 90 - Examination on filing and examination as to formal requirements
Art. 92 - Drawing up of the European search report
Art. 93 - Publication of the European patent application
Art. 94 - Examination of the European patent application
Art. 97 - Grant or refusal
Art. 98 - Publication of the specification of the European patent
OPPOSITION AND LIMITATION PROCEDURE
Art. 99 - Opposition
Art. 100 - Grounds for opposition
Art. 101 - Examination of the opposition - Revocation or maintenance of the European patent
Art. 103 - Publication of a new specification of the European patent
Art. 104 - Costs
Art. 105 - Intervention of the assumed infringer
Art. 105a - Request for limitation or revocation
Art. 105b - Limitation or revocation of the European patent
Art. 105c - Publication of the amended specification of the European patent
APPEALS PROCEDURE
Art. 106 - Decisions subject to appeal
Art. 107 - Persons entitled to appeal and to be parties to appeal proceedings
Art. 108 - Time limit and form
Art. 109 - Interlocutory revision
Art. 110 - Examination of appeals
Art. 111 - Decision in respect of appeals
Art. 112 - Decision or opinion of the Enlarged Board of Appeal
Art. 112a - Petition for review by the Enlarged Board of Appeal
COMMON PROVISIONS - Common provisions governing procedure
Art. 113 - Right to be heard and basis of decisions
Art. 114 - Examination by the European Patent Office of its own motion
Art. 115 - Observations by third parties
Art. 116 - Oral proceedings
Art. 117 - Means and taking of evidence
Art. 118 - Unity of the European patent application or European patent
Art. 119 - Notification
Art. 120 - Time limits
Art. 121 - Further processing of the European patent application
Art. 122 - Re-establishment of rights
Art. 123 - Amendments
Art. 124 - Information on prior art
Art. 125 - Reference to general principles
COMMON PROVISIONS - Information to the public or to official authorities
Art. 127 - European Patent Register
Art. 128 - Inspection of files
Art. 129 - Periodical publications
Art. 130 - Exchange of information
Art. 131 - Administrative and legal co-operation
Art. 132 - Exchange of publications
COMMON PROVISIONS - Representation
Art. 133 - General principles of representation
Art. 134 - Representation before the European Patent Office
Art. 134a - Institute of Professional Representatives before the European Patent Office
IMPACT ON NATIONAL LAW - Conversion into a national patent application
Art. 135 - Request for conversion
Art. 137 - Formal requirements for conversion
IMPACT ON NATIONAL LAW - Revocation and prior rights
Art. 138 - Revocation of European patents
Art. 139 - Prior rights and rights arising on the same date
IMPACT ON NATIONAL LAW - Miscellaneous effects
Art. 140 - National utility models and utility certificates
Art. 141 - Renewal fees for European patents
SPECIAL AGREEMENTS
Art. 142 - Unitary patents
Art. 143 - Special departments of the European Patent Office
Art. 144 - Representation before special departments
Art. 145 - Select committee of the Administrative Council
Art. 146 - Cover for expenditure for carrying out special tasks
Art. 147 - Payments in respect of renewal fees for unitary patents
Art. 148 - The European patent application as an object of property
Art. 149 - Joint designation
Art. 149a - Other agreements between the Contracting States
INTERNATIONAL APPLICATIONS UNDER THE PATENT COOPERATION TREATY - EURO-PCT APPLICATIONS
Art. 150 - Application of the Patent Cooperation Treaty
Art. 151 - The European Patent Office as a receiving Office
Art. 152 - The European Patent Office as an International Searching Authority or International Preliminary Examining Authority
Art. 153 - The European Patent Office as designated Office or elected Office
FINAL PROVISIONS
Art. 164 - Implementing Regulations and Protocols
Art. 165 - Signature - Ratification
Art. 166 - Accession
Art. 168 - Territorial field of application
Art. 169 - Entry into force
Art. 170 - Initial contribution
Art. 171 - Duration of the Convention
Art. 172 - Revision
Art. 173 - Disputes between Contracting States
Art. 174 - Denunciation
Art. 175 - Preservation of acquired rights
Art. 176 - Financial rights and obligations of former Contracting States
Art. 177 - Languages of the Convention
Art. 178 - Transmission and notifications
Rules
General provisions
R. 1 - Written proceedings
R. 2 - Filing of and formal requirements for documents
R. 3 - Language in written proceedings
R. 4 - Language in oral proceedings
R. 5 - Certification of translations
R. 6 - Filing of translations and reduction of fees
R. 7 - Legal authenticity of the translation of the European patent application
Organisation of the European Patent Office - General matters
R. 8 - Patent classification
R. 9 - Administrative structure of the European Patent Office
R. 10 - Responsibility of the Receiving Section and the Examining Division
R. 11 - Allocation of duties to the departments of first instance
Organisation of the European Patent Office - Organisation of the Boards of Appeal and the Enlarged Board of Appeal
R. 12 - Presidium of the Boards of Appeal
R. 13 - Business distribution scheme for the Enlarged Board of Appeal and adoption of its Rules of Procedure
Procedure where the applicant is not entitled
R. 14 - Stay of proceedings
R. 15 - Limitation on withdrawals
R. 16 - Procedure under Article 61, paragraph 1
R. 17 - Filing of a new European patent application by the entitled person
R. 18 - Partial transfer of the right to the European patent
Mention of the inventor
R. 19 - Designation of the inventor
R. 20 - Publication of the mention of the inventor
R. 21 - Rectification of the designation of an inventor
Registration of transfers, licences and other rights
R. 22 - Registration of transfers
R. 23 - Registration of licences and other rights
R. 24 - Special entries for licence registrations
Certificate of exhibition
R. 25 - Certificate of exhibition
Biotechnological inventions
R. 26 - General and definitions
R. 27 - Patentable biotechnological inventions
R. 28 - Exceptions to patentability
R. 29 - The human body and its elements
R. 30 - Requirements of European patent applications relating to nucleotide and amino acid sequences
R. 31 - Deposit of biological material
R. 32 - Expert solution
R. 33 - Availability of biological material
R. 34 - New deposit of biological material
Filing of the European patent application
R. 35 - General provisions
R. 36 - European divisional applications
R. 37 - Forwarding of European patent applications
R. 38 - Filing fee and search fee
R. 39 - Designation Fees
R. 40 - Date of filing
Provisions governing the application
R. 41 - Request for grant
R. 42 - Content of the description
R. 43 - Form and content of claims
R. 44 - Unity of invention
R. 45 - Claims incurring fees
R. 46 - Form of the drawings
R.47 - Form and content of the abstract
R.48 - Prohibited matter
R. 49 - General provisions governing the presentation of the application documents
R. 50 - Documents filed subsequently
Renewal fees
R. 51 - Payment of renewal fees
Priority
R. 52 - Declaration of priority
R. 53 - Priority documents
R. 54 - Issuing priority documents
Examination by the Receiving Section
R. 55 - Examination on filing
R. 56 - Missing parts of the description or missing drawings
R. 57 - Examination as to formal requirements
R. 58 - Correction of deficiencies in the application documents
R. 59 - Deficiencies in claiming priority
R. 60 - Subsequent designation of the inventor
European search report
R. 61 - Content of the European search report
R. 62 - Extended European search report
R. 62a - Applications containing a plurality of independent claims
R. 63 - Incomplete search
R. 64 - European search report where the invention lacks unity
R. 65 - Transmittal of the European search report
R. 66 - Definitive content of the abstract
Publication of the European patent application
R. 67 - Technical preparations for publication
R. 68 - Form of the publication of European patent applications and European search reports
R. 69 - Information about publication
R. 70 - Request for examination
Examination by the Examining Division
R. 70a - Response to the extended European search report
R. 70b - Request for a copy of search results
R. 71 - Examination procedure
R. 71 - Examination procedure
R. 72 - Grant of the European patent to different applicants
The European patent specification
R. 73 - Content and form of the specification
R. 74 - Certificate for a European patent
Opposition procedure
R. 75 - Surrender or lapse of the patent
R. 76 - Form and content of the opposition
R. 77 - Rejection of the opposition as inadmissible
R. 78 - Procedure where the proprietor of the patent is not entitled
R. 79 - Preparation of the examination of the opposition
R. 80 - Amendment of the European patent
R. 81 - Examination of opposition
R. 82 - Maintenance of the European patent in amended form
R. 83 - Request for documents
R. 84 - Continuation of the opposition proceedings by the European Patent Office of its own motion
R. 85 - Transfer of the European patent
R. 86 - Documents in opposition proceedings
R. 87 - Content and form of the new specification of the European patent
R. 88 - Costs
R. 89 - Intervention of the assumed infringer
Procedure for limitation or revocation
R. 90 - Subject of proceedings
R. 91 - Responsibility for proceedings
R. 92 - Requirements of the request
R. 93 - Precedence of opposition proceedings
R. 94 - Rejection of the request as inadmissible
R. 95 - Decision on the request
R. 96 - Content and form of the amended European patent specification
Appeals procedure
R. 97 - Appeal against apportionment and fixing of costs
R. 98 - Surrender or lapse of the patent
R. 99 - Content of the notice of appeal and the statement of grounds
R. 100 - Examination of appeals
R. 101 - Rejection of the appeal as inadmissible
R. 102 - Form of decision of the Board of Appeal
R. 103 - Reimbursement of appeal fees
Petitions for review by the Enlarged Board of Appeal
R. 104 - Further fundamental procedural defects
R. 105 - Criminal acts
R. 106 - Obligation to raise objections
R. 107 - Contents of the petition for review
R. 108 - Examination of the petition
R. 109 - Procedure in dealing with petitions for review
R. 110 - Reimbursement of the fee for petitions for review
Decisions and communications of the European Patent Office
R. 111 - Form of decisions
R. 112 - Noting of loss of rights
R. 113 - Signature, name, seal
Observations by third parties
R. 114 - Observations by third parties
Oral proceedings and taking of evidence
R.115 - Summons to oral proceedings
R.116 - Preparation of oral proceedings
R. 117 - Decision on taking of evidence
R. 118 - Summons to give evidence before the European Patent Office
R. 119 - Examination of evidence before the European Patent Office
R. 120 - Hearing by a competent national court
R. 121 - Commissioning of experts
R. 122 - Costs of taking of evidence
R. 123 - Conservation of evidence
R. 124 - Minutes of oral proceedings and of taking of evidence
Notifications
R. 125 - General provisions
R. 126 - Notification by post
R. 127 - Notification by technical means of communication
R. 128 - Notification by delivery by hand
R. 129 - Public notification
R. 130 - Notification to representatives
Time limits
R. 131 - Calculation of periods
R. 132 - Periods specified by the European Patent Office
R. 133 - Late receipt of documents
R. 134 - Extension of periods
R. 135 - Further processing
R. 136 - Re-establishment of rights
Amendments and corrections
R. 137 - Amendment of the European patent application
R. 138 - Different claims, description and drawings for different States
R. 139 - Correction of errors in documents filed with the European Patent Office
R. 140 - Correction of errors in decisions
Information on prior art
R. 141 - Information on prior art
Interruption of proceedings
R. 142 - Interruption of proceedings
Information to the public
R. 143 - Entries in the European Patent Register
R. 144 - Parts of the file excluded from inspection
R. 145 - Procedures for the inspection of files
R. 146 - Communication of information contained in the files
R. 147 - Constitution, maintenance and preservation of files
Legal and administrative co-operation
R. 148 - Communications between the European Patent Office and the authorities of the Contracting States
R. 149 - Inspection of files by or via courts or authorities of the Contracting States
R. 150 - Procedure for letters rogatory
Representation
R. 151 - Appointment of a common representative
R. 152 - Authorisations
R. 153 - Attorney-client evidentiary privilege
R. 154 - Amendment of the list of professional representatives
Conversion into a national patent application
R. 155 - Filing and transmission of the request for conversion
R. 156 - Information to the public in the event of conversion
INTERNATIONAL APPLICATIONS UNDER THE PATENT COOPERATION TREATY - EURO-PCT APPLICATIONS
R. 157 - The European Patent Office as a receiving Office
R. 158 - The European Patent Office as an International Searching Authority or International Preliminary Examining Authority
R. 159 - The European Patent Office as a designated or elected Office - Requirements for entry into the European phase
R. 160 - Consequences of non-fulfilment of certain requirements
R. 161 - Amendment of the application
R. 162 - Claims incurring fees
R. 163 - Examination of certain formal requirements by the European Patent Office
R. 164 - Consideration of unity by the European Patent Office
R. 165 - The Euro-PCT application as conflicting application under Article 54, paragraph 3
Fees
Art.1 - General
Art.2 - Fees provided for in the Convention and in the Implementing Regulations
Art.3 - Fees, expenses and prices laid down by the President of the Office
Art.4 - Due date for fees
Art.5 - Payment of fees
Art.6 - Particulars concerning payments
Art. 7 - Date to be considered as the date on which payment is made
Art.8 - Insufficiency of the amount paid
Art.9 - Refund of search fees
Art.10 - Refund of the fee for a technical opinion
Art.11 - Refund of examination fee
Art.12 - Refund of insignificant amounts
Art.13 - Termination of financial obligations
Art.14 - Reduction of fees
Art.15 - Entry into force
Situations
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