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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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V.
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Lack of unity
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272
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If the ISA has only searched part of the Euro-PCT application because it considered that the Euro-PCT application did not comply with the requirement of unity of invention, and the applicant did not pay all the additional fees according to Article 17(3)(a) PCT within the prescribed time limit, the EPO will consider whether the application complies with the requirement of unity of invention.
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R. 112 EPC
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273
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If the EPO considers that this is not the case, it will inform the applicant that a European search report can be obtained in respect of those parts of the international application which have not been searched, if a full search fee is paid for each invention involved within a period specified by the EPO which may not be shorter than two weeks and may not exceed six weeks. A European search report will then be drawn up for those parts of the international application which relate to inventions in respect of which search fees have been paid. Rule 46(2) EPC applies mutatis mutandis. For international applications filed on or after 1 July 2005, such search reports will only be accompanied by an opinion on patentability if the report is to be established in the context of a supplementary search (EPO was not ISA).
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R. 44a, 46(2) EPC
GL/EPO B-XII, 8(i)
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274
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If the ISA has carried out a full search (the application was not deemed to be lacking unity or the applicant has paid all additional search fees for those inventions which are being prosecuted in the European phase as well) and the EPO, while performing the supplementary search, is of the opinion that the application does not meet the requirement of unity of invention, a full search fee must be paid for the search in respect of each further invention. The applicant will be reimbursed the amount of the reduction in the search fee normally granted for each additional search fee paid (see point 238), provided the inventions concerned are actually covered by the international search report. Any reduction in the search fee for the supplementary search in respect of the first invention in the application remains unaffected.
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