At present, EU regional patents include European patents (European invention patents) and EU appearance patents:
I. European patent applications
Patents granted according to the European Patent Convention are called European patents, which are inventions with industrial practicability, absolute novelty and creativity. European patents are submitted through the European Patent Office (EPO), and applicants can request that European patents be valid for one or more contracting countries (currently, European patents can be valid for 34 contracting countries and 4 extended countries).
Application routes: PCT route and Paris Convention route.
Application process: 1. Prepare the application documents.
2. Submit an application to the European Patent Office
3. Acceptance (notification of acceptance issued by the European Patent Office)
4. Formal examination (the European Patent Office conducts formal examination of patents in terms of format, etc. )
5. Search report (the European Patent Office makes a search report on the application, and the applicant needs to reply to the search report)
6. Disclosure (the patent application will be disclosed from the filing date (priority date) and at the expiration of 18 months)
7. Request for substantive examination (the applicant shall make a request for examination within 6 months after the date of publication of the application documents)
8. Substantive examination (the European Patent Office examines the application and the applicant submits a reply to the notice of examination opinions)
9. Authorization and announcement (if the patent application meets the legal requirements, the European Patent Office grants the invention patent right and announces the authorized patent)
10. Entry into force procedures (the applicant must complete the entry into force procedures in the country seeking patent protection, and some countries need to submit the translation of patent claims or other patent documents in their own languages).
Second, the EU appearance patent application
EU appearance patent is an appearance patent that is applied directly to the EU Intellectual Property Office and takes effect in 28 EU countries. It has the characteristics of fast authorization, low cost, wide coverage and long protection period.
The 28 member States of the European Union include: France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Ireland, Britain, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Finland, Sweden, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia. Britain (in the process of Brexit, it is temporarily unaffected, but the success of Brexit is not protected).
Application route: Paris Convention route.
Application process: 1. Prepare the application documents.
2. Submit an application to the EU Intellectual Property Office.
3. Acceptance (notification of acceptance issued by EU Intellectual Property Office)
4. Examination (EU Intellectual Property Office conducts formal examination of patents in terms of format, etc. )
5. Authorization (if the application meets the legal requirements, the EU Intellectual Property Office will issue the EU appearance certificate and publish the authorization)