The European Patent Convention (EPC), also known as the Convention on the Grant of European Patents of 5 October 1973, is a multilateral treaty instituting the European Patent Organisation and providing an autonomous legal system according to which European patents are granted. The term European patent is used to refer to patents granted under the European Patent Convention. However, a European patent is not a unitary right, but a group of essentially independent nationally-enforceable, nationally-revocable patents, subject to central revocation or narrowing as a group pursuant to two types of unified, post-grant procedures: a time-limited opposition procedure, which can be initiated by any person except the patent proprietor, and limitation and revocation procedures, which can be initiated by the patent proprietor only.
The EPC provides a legal framework for the granting of European patents, via a single, harmonised procedure before the European Patent Office. A single patent application, in one language, may be filed at the European Patent Office at Munich, at its branches at The Hague or Berlin or at a national patent office of a Contracting State, if the national law of the State so permits.
The IPO also has direct administrative responsibility for examining and issuing or rejecting patents, and maintaining registers of intellectual property including patents, designs and trade marks in the UK. As in most countries, there is no statutory register of copyright such that there is no direct administration required in copyright matters by the IPO.
The Intellectual Property Office is led by the Comptroller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks, who is also registrar of trade marks, registrar of designs and Chief Executive of the Office. Since 15 February 2010 the Comptroller has been John Alty, following the resignation of Ian Fletcher, who took over after the retirement of Ron Marchant on 30 March 2007. The previous comptroller was Alison Brimelow who was afterwards, between July 2007 and June 2010, President of the European Patent Office.
The European Patent Office (EPO) is one of the two organs of the European Patent Organisation (EPOrg), the other being the Administrative Council. The EPO acts as executive body for the Organisation while the Administrative Council acts as its supervisory body as well as, to a limited extent, its legislative body. The actual legislative power to revise the European Patent Convention lies with the Contracting States themselves when meeting at a Conference of the Contracting States.
Within the European Patent Office, examiners are in charge of studying European patent applications, filed by applicants, in order to decide whether to grant a patent for an invention. The patents granted by the European Patent Office are called European patents.
Function, status and location
The European Patent Office (EPO) grants European patents for the Contracting States to the European Patent Convention. The EPO provides a single patent grant procedure, but not a single patent from the point of view of enforcement. Hence the patents granted are not European Union patents or even Europe-wide patents, but a bundle of national patents. Besides granting European patents, the EPO is also in charge of establishing search reports for national patent applications on behalf of the patent offices of Belgium, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, San Marino, and Turkey.
Are you interested in experience at an international organisation?
Are you seeking a dynamic environment?
Looking to develop the skills you need to reach your professional aspirations?
If you said yes to all three, then the EPO's Young Professionals Programme ticks all your boxes.
You can now check open vacancies for the PES Young Professionals Programme, which offers seats in various business areas to students and graduates from programme network universities.
More about the programme: https://jobs.epo.org/content/PanEuropeanSeal/?locale=en_GB
Network universities: https://www.epo.org/learning/materials/pan-european-seal/for-universities/university-memberships.html
published: 15 Feb 2024
EPO Young Professionals: My 1st day at the EPO
Our Young Professionals share their journey from dreamers to achievers. 💼✨ Don't miss their inspiring tales!
🔗 https://bit.ly/EPOYoungProfessionals
#YoungProfessionals #CareerDevelopment #CareerSuccess #JobOpportunity #Graduated
published: 15 Mar 2024
Work of an examiner
Patent examiner Henrik explains the work of an examiner at the EPO in detail.
epo.org/jobs
published: 13 Sep 2021
Looking for a unique job?
Get insights from EPO employees to discover what they like about their job.
epo.org/jobs
published: 07 Apr 2022
The Unitary Patent
Saving costs and complexity for European patents epo.org/unitary
published: 09 Nov 2022
We are EPO Young Professionals, of course we…
Wondering how our Young Professionals Programme can benefit your career? Click the link below to learn more:
https://bit.ly/EPOYoungProfessionals
#OfCourse #YoungProfessionals #CareerDevelopment #CareerSuccess #JobOpportunity #Graduated
published: 15 Feb 2024
What do our Young Professionals really think about the programme?
The Pan-European Seal (PES) programme was launched as a joint professional traineeship programme by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the European Patent Office (EPO) in 2015.
The PES programme currently draws upon 102 (104 if you count faculties) partnership agreements (Memorandums of Understanding / MoUs) with prestigious European universities from 35 EPO member states and two future EPO member states. To date, the EPO has welcomed more than 413 trainees from all over Europe for a 12-month traineeship in various units across the Office.
More on this, here: https://www.epo.org/learning/materials/pan-european-seal.html
published: 29 Nov 2022
Our Young Professionals in Science and Engineering
published: 06 Mar 2023
Inside the EPO: meet Azzurra
EPO employee Azzurra gives an insight into her job as patent examiner in the area of computers.
epo.org/jobs
published: 09 Jan 2020
A message to EPO colleagues by President António Campinos
In a message to all EPO colleagues, António Campinos, EPO President, shares his thoughts on the EPO’s journey in 2023 and the year to come.
#SeasonsGreetings #ThankYouAll
Are you interested in experience at an international organisation?
Are you seeking a dynamic environment?
Looking to develop the skills you need to reach...
Are you interested in experience at an international organisation?
Are you seeking a dynamic environment?
Looking to develop the skills you need to reach your professional aspirations?
If you said yes to all three, then the EPO's Young Professionals Programme ticks all your boxes.
You can now check open vacancies for the PES Young Professionals Programme, which offers seats in various business areas to students and graduates from programme network universities.
More about the programme: https://jobs.epo.org/content/PanEuropeanSeal/?locale=en_GB
Network universities: https://www.epo.org/learning/materials/pan-european-seal/for-universities/university-memberships.html
Are you interested in experience at an international organisation?
Are you seeking a dynamic environment?
Looking to develop the skills you need to reach your professional aspirations?
If you said yes to all three, then the EPO's Young Professionals Programme ticks all your boxes.
You can now check open vacancies for the PES Young Professionals Programme, which offers seats in various business areas to students and graduates from programme network universities.
More about the programme: https://jobs.epo.org/content/PanEuropeanSeal/?locale=en_GB
Network universities: https://www.epo.org/learning/materials/pan-european-seal/for-universities/university-memberships.html
Our Young Professionals share their journey from dreamers to achievers. 💼✨ Don't miss their inspiring tales!
🔗 https://bit.ly/EPOYoungProfessionals
#YoungPr...
Our Young Professionals share their journey from dreamers to achievers. 💼✨ Don't miss their inspiring tales!
🔗 https://bit.ly/EPOYoungProfessionals
#YoungProfessionals #CareerDevelopment #CareerSuccess #JobOpportunity #Graduated
Our Young Professionals share their journey from dreamers to achievers. 💼✨ Don't miss their inspiring tales!
🔗 https://bit.ly/EPOYoungProfessionals
#YoungProfessionals #CareerDevelopment #CareerSuccess #JobOpportunity #Graduated
Wondering how our Young Professionals Programme can benefit your career? Click the link below to learn more:
https://bit.ly/EPOYoungProfessionals
#OfCourse #...
Wondering how our Young Professionals Programme can benefit your career? Click the link below to learn more:
https://bit.ly/EPOYoungProfessionals
#OfCourse #YoungProfessionals #CareerDevelopment #CareerSuccess #JobOpportunity #Graduated
Wondering how our Young Professionals Programme can benefit your career? Click the link below to learn more:
https://bit.ly/EPOYoungProfessionals
#OfCourse #YoungProfessionals #CareerDevelopment #CareerSuccess #JobOpportunity #Graduated
The Pan-European Seal (PES) programme was launched as a joint professional traineeship programme by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and ...
The Pan-European Seal (PES) programme was launched as a joint professional traineeship programme by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the European Patent Office (EPO) in 2015.
The PES programme currently draws upon 102 (104 if you count faculties) partnership agreements (Memorandums of Understanding / MoUs) with prestigious European universities from 35 EPO member states and two future EPO member states. To date, the EPO has welcomed more than 413 trainees from all over Europe for a 12-month traineeship in various units across the Office.
More on this, here: https://www.epo.org/learning/materials/pan-european-seal.html
The Pan-European Seal (PES) programme was launched as a joint professional traineeship programme by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the European Patent Office (EPO) in 2015.
The PES programme currently draws upon 102 (104 if you count faculties) partnership agreements (Memorandums of Understanding / MoUs) with prestigious European universities from 35 EPO member states and two future EPO member states. To date, the EPO has welcomed more than 413 trainees from all over Europe for a 12-month traineeship in various units across the Office.
More on this, here: https://www.epo.org/learning/materials/pan-european-seal.html
In a message to all EPO colleagues, António Campinos, EPO President, shares his thoughts on the EPO’s journey in 2023 and the year to come.
#SeasonsGreetings ...
In a message to all EPO colleagues, António Campinos, EPO President, shares his thoughts on the EPO’s journey in 2023 and the year to come.
#SeasonsGreetings #ThankYouAll
In a message to all EPO colleagues, António Campinos, EPO President, shares his thoughts on the EPO’s journey in 2023 and the year to come.
#SeasonsGreetings #ThankYouAll
Are you interested in experience at an international organisation?
Are you seeking a dynamic environment?
Looking to develop the skills you need to reach your professional aspirations?
If you said yes to all three, then the EPO's Young Professionals Programme ticks all your boxes.
You can now check open vacancies for the PES Young Professionals Programme, which offers seats in various business areas to students and graduates from programme network universities.
More about the programme: https://jobs.epo.org/content/PanEuropeanSeal/?locale=en_GB
Network universities: https://www.epo.org/learning/materials/pan-european-seal/for-universities/university-memberships.html
Our Young Professionals share their journey from dreamers to achievers. 💼✨ Don't miss their inspiring tales!
🔗 https://bit.ly/EPOYoungProfessionals
#YoungProfessionals #CareerDevelopment #CareerSuccess #JobOpportunity #Graduated
Wondering how our Young Professionals Programme can benefit your career? Click the link below to learn more:
https://bit.ly/EPOYoungProfessionals
#OfCourse #YoungProfessionals #CareerDevelopment #CareerSuccess #JobOpportunity #Graduated
The Pan-European Seal (PES) programme was launched as a joint professional traineeship programme by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the European Patent Office (EPO) in 2015.
The PES programme currently draws upon 102 (104 if you count faculties) partnership agreements (Memorandums of Understanding / MoUs) with prestigious European universities from 35 EPO member states and two future EPO member states. To date, the EPO has welcomed more than 413 trainees from all over Europe for a 12-month traineeship in various units across the Office.
More on this, here: https://www.epo.org/learning/materials/pan-european-seal.html
In a message to all EPO colleagues, António Campinos, EPO President, shares his thoughts on the EPO’s journey in 2023 and the year to come.
#SeasonsGreetings #ThankYouAll
The European Patent Convention (EPC), also known as the Convention on the Grant of European Patents of 5 October 1973, is a multilateral treaty instituting the European Patent Organisation and providing an autonomous legal system according to which European patents are granted. The term European patent is used to refer to patents granted under the European Patent Convention. However, a European patent is not a unitary right, but a group of essentially independent nationally-enforceable, nationally-revocable patents, subject to central revocation or narrowing as a group pursuant to two types of unified, post-grant procedures: a time-limited opposition procedure, which can be initiated by any person except the patent proprietor, and limitation and revocation procedures, which can be initiated by the patent proprietor only.
The EPC provides a legal framework for the granting of European patents, via a single, harmonised procedure before the European Patent Office. A single patent application, in one language, may be filed at the European Patent Office at Munich, at its branches at The Hague or Berlin or at a national patent office of a Contracting State, if the national law of the State so permits.
XSense™ system's innovative cryogenic connector technology designed to improve safety and maintain the integrity of cryogen used in the cryoablation procedure ....
From WhoWhatWhy. Photo credit. Illustration by WhoWhatWhy from COP28 / Wikimedia and PublicDomainPictures / Pixabay. COP28. No Final Solution, But the Writing Is on the Wall ... Read more ... Photo credit ... European Patent Office / YouTube Life in the Plastocene.
Granted a patent from the European Patent Office covering therapeutics created for carrying antibody and peptide therapies, representing a novel solution and addressing critical challenges with stability and absorption.
The European Patent Office, co-authors of the report, called for Europe to renew its efforts ... About 37% of these grid technology startups have applied for patents, compared to the average patent application rate of 6% among European startups.
At the same time, Cyprus is now featuring in the Top 45 startup ecosystems globally according to the StartupBlink Global Startup Ecosystem Index and in the top 50 according to the European Patent Office, in terms of the number of patents issued.
... immunology, announced today that the European Patent Office intends to grant the Company a patent covering biodegradable polymeric nanoparticles created for carrying therapeutic and targeting agents.
Two of the most common steps to determine inventive step is the problem-and-solution approach under the European Patent Office and the Pozzoli test ... of the European Patent Office (EPO) is applied.
These inventors have also applied for patents at various other WIPO offices; European Patent Office (EP3405247), Canada Patent Office (CA3011980), China Patent Office (CN109414575), US Patent Office ...