What is the European Patent Office controversy?
The EPO announced October 15 that a senior employee faces dismissal for leading an alleged campaign of defamation and harassment against management. The Dutch newspaper Financieele Dagblad reported that this employee had been discovered to have weaponry and Nazi paraphernalia stored in the office.
What is patent opposition in Europe?
Opposition to a European patent can be filed at any time within nine months following the mention of grant of the patent in the European Patent Bulletin; it is a post-grant procedure. The opposition term is not extensible. Within the opposition period, both a notice of opposition and an opposition fee must be filed.
Which countries are EU for patents?
There are, as of October 2022, 39 Contracting States to the EPC, also called member states of the European Patent Organisation: Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania,
What is a difference between US and European patent law?
While there is a uniform patent law system in the U.S., European patent law is based on the European Patent Convention (EPC), an international treaty, which is not part of EU law. Currently, only the patent application procedure is harmonized by the EPC.
Why EU Patent Office ruled out the patent application of Amazon?
Last year the EPO ruled that Amazons one-click system was too obvious to patent as it relied on existing inventions, called prior art in patent law. Inventions must be new, take an inventive step that is not obvious and be useful to industry to qualify for patent protection.
Will unitary patent replace European patent?
The Unitary Patent system will provide a new option to bring a European patent into force in all participating EU countries (17 countries at commencement), with a single form, a single translation into another EU language and no official fee.
What does the European Patent Convention do?
The European Patent Convention (EPC) is an attempt to simplify European patent law. The Convention provides a procedure for securing a single, European patent,2 which has the effect of a national patent in the signatory nations designated in the application.
Are US patents valid in the EU?
Since the rights granted by a U.S. patent extend only throughout the territory of the United States and have no effect in a foreign country, an inventor who wishes patent protection in other countries must apply for a patent in each of the other countries or in regional patent offices.
