Applications filed with national authorities and forwarded to the EPO
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112
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If an application you file with a national authority is forwarded to the EPO, the EPO notifies you accordingly, indicating the date it received it, by sending you a copy of the receipt for documents (page 6 of the Request for Grant, see Supplements). National authorities inform the EPO without delay when they receive applications.
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R. 24(4)
Guid. A-II, 3.2
OJ 1990, 306
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You are also sent an acknowledgement of receipt pursuant to Rule 24(4) if you file European patent applications electronically with national authorities.
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113
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In the very rare occurrence that your application fails to reach the EPO before the end of the fourteenth month after filing or after the earliest priority date, it is deemed to be withdrawn, and any fees that you have paid are refunded. The EPO notifies you accordingly, and you can then convert your European patent application into national applications.
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Art. 77(5)
Guid. A-II, 1.6; 3.2
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You must file the request for conversion with the central industrial property office of the contracting state in which you filed the application, and must do so within three months after receiving notification from the EPO. For more details you are referred to "National law relating to the EPC" (see point 4 above).
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Art. 135(2), 136(2)
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C. Preparing and filing a European patent application
Acknowledgement of receipt
Fees
