Steps to apply for a patent in European countries

The procedure of applying for invention patent in European countries, and the conditions of EPO in European countries are basically the same as those in China, but the procedure of patent application is different from that in China. The steps of applying for a patent in European countries take an invention patent as an example. The steps are as follows: Step 1: Application: The applicant can choose one of the three official languages of English, French and German to apply to EPO. Within one month from the date of e-PO notification acceptance, the applicant may submit the amendment of the claim, and the time limit shall not be extended. Step 2: EPO retrieval: EPO will retrieve the existing technologies related to the patentability of the application and inform the applicant of the retrieval results. Usually, the applicant needs to evaluate the patentability and the possibility of obtaining authorization of his invention according to the search results.