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III.
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Publication of the European patent application
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147
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The European patent application is published without delay once eighteen months have elapsed since the date of filing or the earliest priority date. You may however request that it be published earlier.
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Art. 93
Guid. A-VI
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The publication contains the description, the claims and any drawings, all as filed, plus the abstract. If the European search report is available in time, it is annexed; if not, it is published separately.
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Guid. A-VI, 1.3; 1.5
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If you amend the claims after receiving the European search report but before completion of the technical preparations for publication (see point 171), the amended claims will be published in addition to the claims as filed. The technical preparations are deemed to have been completed seven weeks before expiry of the eighteenth month after the date of filing or, if priority is claimed, after the date of priority.
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R. 49(3)
OJ 1993, 55
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148
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The European patent application is not published if it has been finally refused or withdrawn or deemed withdrawn before completion of the technical preparations for publication.
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R. 48(2)
Guid. A-VI, 1.2
OJ 1993, 56
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149
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The EPO informs you of the date on which the European Patent Bulletin mentions publication of the European search report, and it draws your attention to the time limit for filing the request for examination, which begins on that date (see point 152). It also informs you that the designation fees must be paid within six months of the date on which the European Patent Bulletin mentions publication of the European search report. You are not entitled to base any claims on the omission of this communication.
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R. 50
Guid. A-VI, 2.1
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150
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Refer to the third paragraph of point 5 for the provisional protection that the application confers.
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Art. 67
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A contracting state not having the language of the proceedings as an official language may prescribe that provisional protection does not take effect until a translation of the claims in one of its official languages at your option or, where that state has prescribed the use of one specific official language, in that language:
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Art. 67(3)
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(a)
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has been made available to the public in the manner prescribed by national law, or
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(b)
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has been communicated to the person using the invention in that state.
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The contracting states all make provisional protection conditional upon a translation of the claims. The same applies to the extension states (see point 26). For more information you are referred to "National law relating to the EPC" (see point 4).
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From that time, too, the public has access via the European Patent Register to the application's bibliographic data and to information about the state of the proceedings (see Annex VIII).
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Art. 127, R. 92
Guid. A-XII
OJ 2001, 249
OJ 2003, 23, 69
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Additional information about the form in which European patent applications and patents are published and about periodical EPO publications is given in Annex VIII.
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Art. 129
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D. The European patent grant procedure
II. Procedure up to publication of the application
IV. Examination procedure
