J 0015/80 (Priority/earlier deposit of industrial design) of 11.06.1981

I. The provisions of Articles 87 to 89 and Rule 38 EPC together form a complete, self-contained code of rules of law on the subject of claiming priority for the purpose of filing a European patent application.

II. The European Patent Office is not directly bound by Article 4 of the Paris Convention, since the European Patent Organisation is not a party to that Convention.

III. As the EPC is a special agreement within the meaning of Article 19, Paris Convention, a general understanding by the Contracting States of the EPC that the deposit of an industrial design clearly gives a priority right for a national patent application, by application of Article 4 Paris Convention, could lead to an interpretation of Article 87(1) EPC going beyond its terms and permitting such deposits to give priority rights for European patent applications.

IV. In the absence of such a general understanding there is no reason to read Article 87(1) EPC more broadly than its express terms and scope require. It follows that a priority right based on the deposit of an industral design is not recognised for a European patent application.