The President of the European Patent Office, having regard to Rules 141(1) and (2) and 70b(1) and (2) of the European Patent Convention (EPC), has decided as follows:

Article 1 Exemption under Rule 141(2) EPC from filing a copy of the search results

The European Patent Office shall include in the file of a European patent appli- cation a copy of the search results referred to in Rule 141(1) EPC, thus exempting the applicant from filing said copy, where the priority of a first filing made in one of the following states is claimed:

Japan United Kingdom United States of America

1 See notice from the European Patent Office dated 28 July 2010 concerning amended Rule 141 EPC and new Rule 70b EPC utilisation scheme, OJ EPO 2010, 410.

2 See also decision of the President of the European Patent Office dated 5 October 2010 on the filing of copies of search results under Rule 141(1) EPC utilisation scheme, OJ EPO 2010, 600.

3 See notice from the European Patent Office dated 9 December 2010 concerning exemption under Rule 141(2) EPC from filing a copy of the search results utilisation scheme, OJ EPO 2011, 64.

Article 2 Entry into force

This decision shall enter into force on 1 January 2011 and shall apply to European patent applications and international applications filed on or after that date.

Done at Munich, 9 December 2010

Benot BATTISTELLI President

References: r141;