an application for a patent, a utility model or a utility certificate, or his successor in title, shall enjoy, for the purpose of filing a European patent application in respect of the same invention, a right of priority during a period of twelve months from the date of filing of the first application.
A subsequent application in respect of the same subject-matter as a previous first application and filed in or for the same State shall be considered as the first application for the purposes of determining priority, provided that, at the date of filing the subsequent application, the previous application has been withdrawn, abandoned or refused, without being open to public inspection and without leaving any rights outstanding, and has not served as a basis for claiming a right of priority. The previous application may not thereafter serve as a basis for claiming a right of priority.
If the first filing has been made with an industrial property authority which is not subject to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property or the Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization, paragraphs 1 to 4 shall apply if that authority, according to a communication issued by the President of the European Patent Office, recognises that a first filing made with the European Patent Office gives rise to a right of priority under conditions and with effects equivalent to those laid down in the Paris Convention.
Source: http://www.epo.org/law-practice/legal-texts/html/epc/2016/e/ar87.html
Date retrieved: 17 May 2021
119 references found.
Click X to load a reference inside the current page, click on the title to open in a new page.EPC Articles
EPC Implementing Rules
EPO Guidelines Foreword
EPO Guidelines - A Formalities Examination
EPO Guidelines - E General Procedural Matters
EPO Guidelines - F The European Patent Application
XGL F VI 2.4.4 A situation in which it has to be checked whether the application from which priority is actually claimed is the "first application" within the meaning of Art. 87(1)
EPO PCT GL - F (not assigned)
EPO Guide for Applicants, part II Int. - C The EPO as ISA and SISA
Offical Journal of the EPO
XOJ EPO 2020, A20 - Notice from the European Patent Office dated 10 February 2020 concerning the staying of proceedings due to referral G 4/19
XOJ EPO 2018, A80 - Notice from the European Patent Office dated 12 October 2018 concerning updated Forms 1001 (request for grant) and 1200 (entry into the European phase)
XOJ EPO 2017, A50 - Interlocutory decision of the Technical Board of Appeal 3.3.09 dated 17 October 2016 - T 437/14
XOJ EPO 2011, 580 - Notice from the European Patent Office reminding applicants of the exemptions under Rule 141(2) EPC from filing a copy of the search results under Rule 141(1) EPC utilisation scheme
XOJ EPO 2010, 498 - Notice from the European Patent Office dated 7 July 2010 concerning inventions which involve the use of or concern biological material
XOJ EPO 2010, 410 - Notice from the European Patent Office dated 28 July 2010 concerning amended Rule 141 EPC and new Rule 70b EPC utilisation scheme
Case Law Book: II Conditions to be met by an Application
XCLR II D 2.1 Application filed in or for a state which is party to the Paris Convention or a member of the WTO
Case Law Book: III Amendments
XCLR III E 3.2 Time limits excluded from re-establishment under Article 122(4) EPC and Rule 136(3) EPC