CPC - CONVENTION FOR THE EUROPEAN PATENT FOR THE COMMON MARKET 4/9

EPO

EUROPEAN COMMUNITY AND EUROPEAN PATENT OFFICE

CPC - CONVENTION FOR THE EUROPEAN PATENT FOR THE COMMON MARKET

EU-CVN

4/9

CHAPTER II

EFFECTS OF THE COMMUNITY PATENT

AND THE EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION

Article 25

Prohibition of direct use of the invention

A Community patent shall confer on its proprietor the right to prevent all third parties not having his consent:


(a)	from making, offering, putting on the market or using a product which is the subject-matter of the patent, or importing or stocking the product for these purposes;


(b)	from using a process which is the subject-matter of the patent or, when the third party knows, or it is obvious in the circumstances, that the use of the process is prohibited without the consent of the proprietor of the patent, from offering the process for use within the territories of the Contracting States;


(c)	from offering, putting on the market, using, or importing or stocking for these purposes the product obtained directly by a process which is the subject-matter of the patent.

Article 26

Prohibition of indirect use of the invention

1. A Community patent shall also confer on its proprietor the right to prevent all third parties not having his consent from supplying or offering to supply within the territories of the Contracting States a person, other than a party entitled to exploit the patented invention, with means, relating to an essential element of that invention, for putting it into effect therein, when the third party knows, or it is obvious in the circumstances, that these means are suitable and intended for putting that invention into effect.

2. Paragraph 1 shall not apply when the means are staple commercial products, except when the third party induces the person supplied to commit acts prohibited by Article 25.

3. Persons performing the acts referred to in Article 27 (a) to (c) shall not be considered to be parties entitled to exploit the invention within the meaning of paragraph 1.

Article 27

Limitation of the effects of the Community patent

The rights conferred by a Community patent shall not extend to:


(a)	acts done privately and for non-commercial purposes;


(b)	acts done for experimental purposes relating to the subject-matter of the patented invention;


(c)	the extemporaneous preparation for individual cases in a pharmacy of a medicine in accordance with a medical prescription nor acts concerning the medicine so prepared;

(d)

the use on board vessels of the countries of the Union of Paris for the Protection of Industrial Property, other than the Contracting States, of the patented invention, in the body of the vessel, in the machinery, tackle, gear and other accessories, when such vessels temporarily or accidentally enter the waters of Contracting States, provided that the invention is used there exclusively for the needs of the vessel;


(e)	the use of the patented invention in the construction or operation of aircraft or land vehicles of countries of the Union of Paris for the Protection of Industrial Property, other than the Contracting States, or of accessories to such aircraft or land vehicles, when these temporarily or accidentally enter the territory of Contracting States;


(f)	the acts specified in Article 27 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation of 7 December 1944, where these acts concern the aircraft of a State, other than the Contracting States, benefiting from the provisions of that Article.

Article 28

Exhaustion of the rights conferred

by the Community patent

The rights conferred by a Community patent shall not extend to acts concerning a product covered by that patent which are done within the territories of the Contracting States after that product has been put on the market in one of these States by the proprietor of the patent or with his express consent, unless there are grounds which, under Community law, would justify the extension to such acts of the rights conferred by the patent.

Article 29

Translation of the claims in examination

or opposition proceedings

1. The applicant shall file with the European Patent Office within the time limit prescribed in the Implementing Regulations a translation of the claims on which the grant of the European patent is to be based in one of the official languages of each of the Contracting States which does not have English, French or German as an official language.

2. Paragraph 1 shall apply mutatis mutandis in respect of claims which are amended during opposition proceedings.

3. The translations of the claims shall be published by the European Patent Office.

4. The applicant for or proprietor of the patent shall pay the fee for the publication of the translations of the claims within the time limits prescribed in the Implementing Regulations.

5. If the translations prescribed in paragraph 1 are not filed in due time or if the fee for the publication of the translations of the claims is not paid in due time the European patent application shall be deemed to be withdrawn in respects of the designated Contracting States. If the translations prescribed in paragraph 2 are not filed in due time or if the fee for the publication of the translations of the claims is not paid in due time the Community patent shall be revoked.

6. Where a translation of the claims prescribed in paragraph 1 or 2, or a translation of the claims in the two official languages of the European Patent Office which are not the language of the proceedings, is defective, the applicant for or the proprietor of the patent may file a corrected translation with the European Patent Office. The corrected translation shall not have any legal effect until the conditions prescribed in the Implementing Regulations have been complied with.

7. Where the translation of the claims in one of the official languages of a Contracting State is defective, any person who, in that State, is using or has made effective and serious preparations for using an invention the use of which would not constitute infringement of the patent in the defective translation of the claims, may, after the corrected translation takes effect, continue such use without payment. This shall not apply if it is established that the person concerned did not act in good faith.

Article 30

Translation of the specification of the Community patent

1. In addition to the translations prescribed in Article 29 (1) the applicant shall file with the European Patent Office, before the end of the period prescribed in the Implementing Regulations, a translation of the text of the application which forms the basis for the grant of the Community patent in one of the official languages of each of the Contracting States in which the language of the proceedings is not an official language.

2. Paragraph 1 shall apply mutatis mutandis to the text of the Community patent which forms the basis for its maintenance in amended form during opposition proceedings.

3. The European Patent Office shall, within the time limit laid down in the Implementing Regulations, forward to each of the central industrial property offices of the Contracting States which have so requested a copy of the translations referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 in the relevant language or languages. The applicant must for that purpose file a sufficient number of copies of the translations.

4. The translations prescribed in paragraphs 1 and 2 shall be made available to the public by the European Patent Office and shall be forwarded in due time and free of charge to the central industrial property offices of the Contracting States concerned in a suitable form for adequate and inexpensive dissemination.

5. If the translations prescribed in paragraph 1 are filed in due time, the proprietor of the patent may avail himself from the date of publication of the mention of the grant of the patent of the rights conferred by the patent.

6. If the translations prescribed in paragraphs 1 or 2 are not filed in due time, the Community patent shall be deemed to be void ab initio. However, the proprietor may, instead of the Community patent, obtain a European patent for the Contracting States for which he has filed translations in due time. He must for that purpose notify his intention in writing to the European Patent Office within a period of two months from the expiry of the applicable time limit and pay within the same period the fees referred to in Article 81 (1).

7. Article 29 (6) and (7) shall apply mutatis mutandis to the translations prescribed in paragraphs 1 and 2.

Article 31

Status of translations

The translations provided for in Articles 29 and 30 which have been carried out by persons authorized under the law of a Contracting State shall be deemed in that State to be in conformity with the original, until proved to the contrary.

Article 32

Rights conferred by a European patent

application after publication

1. Compensation reasonable in the circumstances may be claimed from a third party who, in the period between the date of publication of a European patent application in which the Contracting States are designated and the date of publication of the mention of the grant of the European patent, has made any use of the invention which, after that period, would be prohibited by virtue of the Community patent.

2. Any Contracting State which does not have as an official language the language of the proceedings of a European patent application in which the Contracting States are designated may prescribe that such application shall not confer, in respect of use of the invention within its territory, the right referred to in paragraph 1 until such time as the applicant, at his option, has:


(a)	supplied a translation of the claims in one of its official languages to the competent authority of that State and the translation has been published in accordance with the law of that State; or


(b)	communicated such a translation to the person using the invention within that State.

3. Any Contracting State referred to in paragraph 2 may prescribe that, where the applicant avails himself of the option provided for in subparagraph 2 (b), the right conferred by the application in respect of use of the invention within the territory of the State concerned may be invoked only if the applicant supplies a copy of the translation to the competent authority of that State within 15 days after it has been communicated to the person using the invention within that State. The Contracting State may prescribe that the authority shall publish the translation, in accordance with the law of that State.

4. Any Contracting State which adopts a provision under paragraph 2 may prescribe that, where the translation of the claims is defective, any person who, in that State, has used or made effective and serious preparations for using the invention the use of which would not constitute infringement of the application in the original translation of the claims shall be liable for reasonable compensation in accordance with paragraph 1 only from the moment when the corrected translation of the claims has been published or has been received by him, unless it is established that he did not act in good faith, in which case he shall be liable for reasonable compensation in accordance with paragraph 1 from the moment when the requirements of paragraph 2 were fulfilled.