European and International Patent Applications

This guide offers patent representatives in professional practice and corporate patent departments useful practical information about European and PCT applications. It helps to ensure that applications pass smoothly through every stage of formal examination. The book presents comprehensive information about:

- The different stages of the European patent granting procedure from the filing of an application right through to the granting of the patent, and also opposition and appeals procedures.
- The international application procedure (PCT) before the European Patent Office as the Receiving Office and International Searching Authority and the International Preliminary Examining Authority as well as entry into the regional phase at the EPO.

The guide provides illustrations, examples and assistance in formulating communications so that it is possible to respond quickly and appropriately and to find one's way through the application procedure at all times. The alphabetically arranged decisions of the Board of Appeal with regard to loss of rights together with model requests for further prosecution enable one to remedy time limit problems quickly.

Legal decisions and case law refer to the status as of June 2002. It includes the recent changes to PCT procedural rules and the fee reductions which came into force on 1 January 2002 as well as 1 April 2002. Details are also provided about the amendments to the EPO Implementing Regulations and the Rules relating to Fees which came into force at the beginning of 2002. An overview is given of the amendments to the formal procedure in the granting phase of European patent applications which were introduced in July 2002.