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D
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E
How to get a European patent
A. General overview
B. The EPO as a PCT receiving Office
C. The EPO as an International Searching Authority
D. The EPO as an International Preliminary Examining Authority
E. Euro-PCT procedure before the EPO as a designated or elected Office
Annexes
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Protest
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99
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An applicant may pay an additional search fee under "protest". This means that at the time of payment of the additional fee(s) the applicant objects to the claimed lack of unity in a written reasoned statement filed with the EPO as ISA. Such objections may concern the finding of non-unity as such or the number of the required additional fees being excessive. The lodging of a protest does not delay the search itself.
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R. 40.2(c) PCT
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With effect from 1 April 2005 a new protest procedure entered into force for all applications filed on or after that date. Under the new procedure set out in Rule 40 PCT, the review has been reduced to a one-stage protest procedure. However, the EPO as ISA (and also the EPO as IPEA) will continue to apply the two-stage review procedure pending entry into force of the revised version of the EPC (EPC 2000). This means that all protests, regardless of whether the filing date of the application is before, on or after 1 April 2005, will be treated in the same manner as set out below (point 100).
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OJ 2005, 226
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