A.75 EPC Filing of a European patent application

(1)

A European patent application may be filed:

with the European Patent Office, or

if the law of a Contracting State so permits, and subject to Article 76, paragraph 1, with the central industrial property office or other competent authority of that State. Any application filed in this way shall have the same effect as if it had been filed on the same date with the European Patent Office.

(2)

Paragraph 1 shall not preclude the application of legislative or regulatory provisions which, in any Contracting State:

(a)

govern inventions which, owing to the nature of their subject-matter, may not be communicated abroad without the prior authorisation of the competent authorities of that State, or

(b)

prescribe that any application is to be filed initially with a national authority, or make direct filing with another authority subject to prior authorisation.

[ Art. 76 120 130 153 R. 35 41 133 134 147 ]

Amended by the Act revising the European Patent Convention of 29.11.2000.

See decision of the President of the EPO of 03.01.2017 designating the EPO's filing offices (OJ EPO 2017, A11), notice from the EPO of 14.02.2018 concerning the availability of the EPO filing offices (OJ EPO 2018, A18) and notice from the EPO of 16.03.2018 concerning the closing of the mailroom at its headquarters in Munich (OJ EPO 2018, A27).

See notice from the EPO of 30.01.2018 concerning changes to the filing options available in Belgium for European patent applications and international applications (OJ EPO 2018, A17) and notice from the EPO of 20.11.2019 concerning changes to the filing options available in San Marino for European patent applications and international applications (OJ EPO 2019, A96).

Source: http://www.epo.org/law-practice/legal-texts/html/epc/2016/e/ar75.html

Date retrieved: 17 May 2021

40 references found.

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EPC Articles

X Chapter I Filing and requirements of the European patent application

X A.76 EPC European divisional applications

X A.120 EPC Time limits

X A.130 EPC Exchange of information

X A.151 EPC The European Patent Office as a receiving Office

X A.153 EPC The European Patent Office as designated Office or elected Office

EPC Implementing Rules

X R.35 EPC General provisions

X R.41 EPC Request for grant

X R.133 EPC Late receipt of documents

X R.134 EPC Extension of periods

X R.147 EPC Constitution, maintenance and preservation of files

X R.157 EPC The European Patent Office as a receiving Office

EPO Guidelines - A Formalities Examination

X GL A II 1.1 Filing of applications by delivery by hand or by postal services

X GL A II 1.5 Debit orders for deposit accounts held with the EPO

X GL A X 4.2.4 Date of receipt of the debit order; insufficient funds

X GL A X 6.2.5 Amount of fee payable

EPO PCT GL - A Formalities Examination

X GL-PCT A II 3.2 Filing via a competent national authority

EPO Guide for Applicants, part II Int. - C The EPO as ISA and SISA

X GA C2.2.6 2.2.6.

Offical Journal of the EPO

X OJ EPO 2020, A120 - Notice from the European Patent Office dated 22 October 2020 concerning the procedures and safeguards which apply under the EPC and the PCT in the event of outages of means of electronic filing and other online services

X OJ EPO 2020, A10 - Notice from the European Patent Office dated 20 December 2019 concerning forms and publications available from the EPO

X OJ EPO 2020, A9 - List of days in 2020 on which EPO filing offices and national patent authorities of the EPC contracting states are closed

X OJ EPO SE 4/2019, p32 - Annex A.2 to the ADA - Information from the EPO concerning the automatic debiting procedure

X OJ EPO SE 4/2019, p10 - Arrangements for deposit accounts (ADA)

X OJ EPO 2019, A96 - Notice from the European Patent Office dated 20 November 2019 concerning changes to the filing options available in San Marino for European patent applications and international applications

X OJ EPO 2019, A8 - Notice from the European Patent Office dated 17 December 2018 concerning forms and publications available from the EPO

X OJ EPO 2019, A7 - List of days in 2019 on which EPO filing offices and national patent authorities of the EPC contracting states are closed

X OJ EPO 2018, A27 - Notice from the European Patent Office dated 16 March 2018 concerning the closing of the mailroom at its headquarters in Munich

X OJ EPO 2018, A18 - Notice from the European Patent Office dated 14 February 2018 concerning the availability of the EPO filing offices

X OJ EPO 2018, A17 - Notice from the European Patent Office dated 30 January 2018 concerning changes to the filing options available in Belgium for European patent applications and international applications

X OJ EPO 2018, A7 - Notice from the European Patent Office dated 18 December 2017 concerning forms and publications available from the EPO

X OJ EPO 2018, A6 - List of days in 2018 on which EPO filing offices and national patent authorities of the EPC contracting states are closed

X OJ EPO SE 5/2017, p43 - Annex A.2 to the ADA - Information from the EPO concerning the automatic debiting procedure

X OJ EPO SE 5/2017, p11 - Arrangements for deposit accounts (ADA)

X OJ EPO SE 5/2017, p2 - Notice from the European Patent Office dated 27 September 2017 concerning revision of the Arrangements for deposit accounts and their annexes

X OJ EPO 2017, A11 - Decision of the President of the European Patent Office dated 3 January 2017 designating the EPO's filing offices

X OJ EPO 2017, A7 - List of days in 2017 on which EPO filing offices and national patent authorities of the EPC contracting states are closed

X OJ EPO 2008, 271 - Decisions of the Enlarged Board of Appeal

Case Law Book: III Amendments

X CLR III A 1 Applicability of the principle of the protection of legitimate expectations

Case Law Book: IV Divisional Applications

X CLR IV A 3 Where and how applications may be filed

X CLR IV A 5.1 Requirements for according a date of filing