Guide for Applicants - Part 1:How to get a European patent: A. General, III. Relationship to other international conventions

Guide for Applicants - Part 1
How to get a European patent

E / D / F


How to get a European patent
A. General

II. Nature and purpose of the European Patent Convention

IV. Choosing a route: national, European or international

III.	Relationship to other international conventions

7	The EPC constitutes a special agreement within the meaning of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.

This means in particular that the provisions of the Paris Convention on claiming priority and the national treatment principle also apply in the European procedure and to European applications.

The EPC further constitutes a regional patent treaty within the meaning of Article 45(1) PCT, which means that European patents can be granted on the basis of an international application filed under the PCT. Part 2 of the present Guide ("PCT procedure before the EPO - Euro-PCT") deals with this filing route. It was published by the EPO in April 2002 and can be obtained free of charge from the EPO Information Offices at all sites or downloaded from the EPO website (www.european-patent-office.org).

Art. 150-158

R. 104-112
Guid. A-VII;
Guid. E-IX

The EPC also forms the basis for the planned EC Regulation on the Community Patent, intended in particular to provide for the uniform effect of European patents granted by the EPO for the territory of the EC (Community patents) and to create a centralised Community patent court (see Proposal for a Council Regulation on the Community patent, COM(2000) 412 final, http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/com/pdf/2000/en_500PC0412.pdf). However, the EPC still needs to be revised to accommodate the Community patent.