Questions tagged [european]
Questions specifically relating to the EPO rules, patent practices in Europe, and patents filed in Europe
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How much time do you have to file a patent in China after you have filed it in the USA?
Let's suppose that I filed a non-provisional patent application in the USA today, how much time do I have to file the patent in China before it is no longer patentable?
Same for the EU.
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Second oral proceedings of a European Patent Application
A European Application has been filed. The Examining Division raised a "lack of sufficient disclosure" and a "lack of clarity" objection against the Application. The Examining ...
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Why is Art. 54(3) EPC limited to only European patent applications?
Art. 54(3) EPC is limited to European patent applications and PCT applications in their European phase (R.165 EPC, if fees are paid, translations are provided).
Why does he EPO limit the subject of ...
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What is the "procedural step" Art. 24(3) EPC is referring to?
What are the "procedural steps" Art. 24(3) EPC is referring to?
Art. 24(3)
EPC Members of a Board of Appeal or of the Enlarged Board
of Appeal may be objected to by any party for one of ...
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Is it possible to patent an operational workflow in EU?
I am designing a process something like "order online and collect" or "load parcels to a van in the order of the destinations to make unloading easier" (if these were novel). Is it ...
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Structure of the EPO law
When I have to look at some rules or laws or the like from the EPC, I always struggle to navigate to the correct phrases. When I simply google for what I'm looking for I get there in seconds but I ...
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Amend patent claim in opposition due to lack of clarity
I'm doing some exercises from the EPO and struggle at this one:
In opposition proceedings a patent proprietor has proposed amendments
to claims 1, 3 and 4 of its patent to overcome issues of novelty ...
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Prior art and claim
If one writes the main claim by using a classifying part and a characterizing portion of this claim, then the classifying part reflects the known prior art or its features and the characterizing part ...
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Period time to pay renewal fees for european patents
I'm participating in some EQE training and there is this question/answer:
Most fees for European patent applications cannot be paid before their
due date. One exception is renewal fees, which can ...
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2
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General and specific feature
I'm trying to understand the relationship between a general and a specific feature. I'm specifically relating to an EPO guideline:
Generic disclosure and specific examples
In considering novelty, it ...
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Does the number of a feature play a role?
Does the number of (embodiments) of a feature play a role?
Let's consider a chair:
The prior state is a three-legged chair. Is a chair with four legs patentable?
The prior state is a four-legged ...
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ES102424A Un sistema de cuaderno de hojas intercambiables
Help me find the Original document of this Patent ES102424A by French Association 'La Reliure Spirale'
'A flip-sheet notebook system' could be the translation, but I could not find the Original ...
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Global ethical implications of a US patent
I would like to understand the ethics of Patents. There is a product that is currently sold worldwide, with a patent in the US only. If I was to sell the same product (diff. logo) in the UK/EU, what ...
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What extent of prior publication prevents patentability?
After winning a competition, the content of my submission was posted publicly. This involved:
General descriptions of features of the product (e.g.allows for
remote monitoring through an ai-camera).
...
user24548
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Is it possible to proceed with patent application when prior art is found for 1, but not all, of the indipendent claims?
Suppose we have an EU or US patent with 3 claims. The examiner rejects one of the indipendent claims because of prior art.
Ist it still possible to process with the patent application by giving up the ...
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Can I use the same active ingredient as patented product, when rest of the formula is different?
I want to manufacture natural / ecological dishwashing detergent. There is a patented dishwashing detergent on the market with the same active ingredient, but the rest of the formula / other ...
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Why does the expiry of a patent and/or SPC varies in european countries?
The patent expiry usually varies by a day or two among the EU countries. For eg. SPC of EP0914118 will expire on different days in France, UK and Germany & Spain? Why is there such a difference ...
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Application rejected at examination stage - How to proceed best?
Some months ago I filed an application for a national patent (in an EU country). The examiner pointed out several amendments to be made, which I did after I discussed with him twice.
Eventually the ...
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Patent pending - US and EU procedure and
I am ready to start searching for a grant or investor for developing my technology.
It's two days I am looking for information, but really, I understand nothing from the articles online.
I was ...
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2
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Can industrial processes described in patents be replicated in Not-for-profit organisations without a license?
I wonder if the processes described in patents can be replicated in not-for-profit organisation, that is, organisations that by statutory contract do not aim to commercialise a "copied" version of ...
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USPTO Non Provisional Application and European Filing
A USPTO Provisional Application (PPA) has been submitted and a NPA is to be drafted. That being said,
What needs to be done \ avoided to maintain eligibility to file a European Application?
What is ...
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Meaning and implications of "non-entry into the European phase"
A U.S. Patent that was applied for in 2014 is still shown as Pending (not granted). In 2016 I see a record of the European patent as "non-entry in European phase" code 122. There is also a record with ...
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Options for EPO post-grant challenges?
In the US, there are at least two USPTO proceedings that can be filed by third parties against invalid or unduly broad patents (e.g., in light of prior art not considered during prosecution):
Ex ...
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How to check for EP divisional filings?
In the US, continuation applications of a given application can be checked for in the "Continuity Data" tab in PAIR.
In the case of EPO, divisionals (the analogue of continuations) may be less common ...
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Unpublished foreign applications considered prior art for EPO inventive step?
Is it true that third-party applications which are filed earlier but unpublished at the time of filing are not considered prior art for inventive step purposes in the EPO? If so, this is a huge ...
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Combination of dependent claims
According to decision T 1857/07 (2.4.2) of the EPO boards of appeal, a combination of dependent claims (e.g. 2 and 3) that are both/all dependent on the same independent claim but not each other is ...
user18033
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Handmade Product In UK
If a product is handmade in the UK, not sold in the united states, does not have a patent, can that product ne created and patented in the states?
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Can a data-fomat be patented and saved with a common storage format?
Imagine I have data describing something, i.e. a person
Name Ander
Id 123123
tel 1313333333
some_other_unusual_id 1212
And I store it in a XML. The structure of the data (4 fields, those ones ...
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How should I patent my behavioral bio-metric identification idea in the US or Europe?
I know all of you are really well versed with patents here and I am a completely novice .
Me and My team have come up with a working system which implements behavioral bio-metric identification system ...
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Where can I find European Patent Office documents?
We are trying to get a European patent issued through our patent attorney in Munich. To save money, we would like to send him a first draft of a response to the examiner's rejection for lack of ...
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Protections for selling a business idea
Which protections is needed to be bought for a business idea?
I like to sell it to a European citizen (of Course, for starting it in that country) and I am from a non-EU country.
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Schrödingers Prior art 54(3) EPC
My current understanding:
If a PCT application was filed before, but published after, the filing of a different European patent application, then the PCT application may be considered a 54(3) EPC ...
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Does the pure complexity of a computational task make it not to be a mental model?
I partially read this response to a patent application related to assigning seats to airline passengers, such that they are "happy".
In this response, the examiner says:
the subject matter of the ...
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Just got an extended European search report with Unity rejection, how can I do to argue with the Examiner?
Just got an extended European search report with Unity rejection, stating that the the application does not meet the requirement of unity according to Article 82 EPC, the reason being as follows:
...
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Patent comes up in European Patent search but not in US
I have a patent idea, and searched the US patents. Nothing comes up, but then I searched the European patent office and a similar, but not the same item comes up. Does this matter since I would be ...
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can EP application takes priority from provisional patent?
I heard a EP file an application based on US provisional if the US provisional file a US application. so i will explain my doubt based on my example.
A provisional patent(PP1) file on 1 jan 2016 and ...
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What does "as such" mean?
The response of an UK examination of my application starts with:
I am of the opinion that the invention as defined in claims 1-15 of your application relates to a method of doing business and a ...
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Protecting intellectual property in the EU
I’m doing an intership in pharmaceutical company. I have made a Linux shell script which uses some open source tools to turn a some time-consuming copy and paste work into a couple of seconds of ...
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Costs for patents in Europe for software or online-service
I'm currently not entirely sure if I can get a patent on my "idea" at all, yet I think I might, but if so I wouldn't know at the moment in what kind of group my patent would be considered in.
However,...
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What does it mean when a national patent out of a european patent gets contested
Lets assume that someones owns a national patent.
Then he registers a european patent with the priority of his national patent.
Later in a different state of the european union the patent gets ...
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1
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Can a weak patent application come back to haunt you?
Let's say I made an improvement on a device. After prior-art search the patent attorney advised that there is risk that a patent application would get rejected. However, my ego got best of me and I ...
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Can I patent a genetically modified animal before creating the one?
I have an idea of a genetically modified animal whose artificial features will solve certain practical problem. The combination of features is far from trivial. Can I patent (in UK, EU, US and the ...
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Non-technical description for software patency?
What is a good example of a brief description on software patency?
Essentially, I'd like a way to communicate what may be patentable and what may not be.
I get asked a lot about software patency and ...
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Difference Espacenet, European patent register and Patent scope
What is the difference between;
Espacenet,
European patent register and
Patent scope?
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Can embedded software be patented in the EU?
I know that no software can be patented in Europe. But what if I use software in an electronic board, and introduce that hardware? Can that be patented?
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'Technical effects' of software patents for eligibility
For patent eligibility of software patents in many countries including EU there is a requirement of 'technical effects' on the hardware device. These 'technical effects' are technological advances or ...
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Is WO and US patents valid in EU?
I read allot of the answers to your most question on this website and these where really helpful in getting a general idea of the patent laws.
Hope that someone can help me out with the following ...
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When will the EU Unified Patent Court come into existence?
So far I have gathered that one can apply for an Unitary Patents(UP) when the Unified Patent Court (UPC) comes into existences. This will come into existence when:
either on the first day of the 4th ...
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How can I contact the inventor or applicant of a European patent or application?
I'm interested in contacting the owner of EP1870511A1. Where can I find information to do so?
I've reviewed "How can I contact the owner of a patent?," but it appears to only cover American patents ...
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Possible US court sanctions over EU company in software patent infringment case
What are the possible sanctions from US court if a EU company decides that continuing software patent litigation is useless but is not willing to make a deal with accusing party. In other words ...
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