Guide for Applicants - Part 1 - Table of Contents   Annex VIII Patent information services

Annex VIII

Patent information services

File inspection and communication of information from files

1. The files relating to published European patent applications and patents are available for online inspection. Access to online file inspection is provided via the EPO website (www.epo.org) under "Register Plus".

Art. 128(4) R. 145 Guid. A-XII OJ 2000, 474 OJ 2003, 370, 373

On request, copies of the files can be made available for inspection. This is subject to payment of a fee.

European Patent Register and European Patent Bulletin

2. The EPO offers Internet access to the Online European Patent Register. Users of the European patent system can go to www.epo.org to look up procedural data on European patents and patent applications.

Art. 127 R. 143 OJ 2001, 249 OJ 2003, 23, 69

The Online Register provides bibliographic data together with procedural data from the date of publication to the grant of the patent, plus any data concerning opposition and appeal proceedings.

Internet access to the Online Register is free of charge.

3. The data in the European Patent Register is published weekly in the European Patent Bulletin, where the bibliographic data relating to published European patent applications and granted European patents is arranged according to a number of reference criteria, including

Art. 129(a)

●

the International Patent Classification,

●

European publication numbers,

●

names of applicants/proprietors.

The European Patent Bulletin is available online at
www.epo.org.

Patent documents

4. The EPO also publishes:

Art. 93 OJ 1990, 81 Art. 98, 103

●

European patent applications (A documents) on CD-ROM and online

●

European patent specifications (B documents) on CD-ROM and online

Published documents are available online via the publication server at http://www.epo.org/patents/patent-information/european-patent-documents/publication-server.html

Information on other EPO CD-ROM products can be downloaded from the EPO website at www.epo.org/patents/patent-information/subscription.html

Official Journal, and Guidelines for Examination

5. The EPO's other standard publications include

Art. 129(b) Art. 10(2)(a)

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the Official Journal (OJ), containing in particular the legislative acts of the Organisation's Administrative Council, the decisions and notices of the President of the EPO, information about fees and costs, and selected decisions of the boards of appeal, and

●

the Guidelines for Examination in the European Patent Office.

These publications are also available online on the EPO's website (www.epo.org).

Terms and conditions

6.	The EPO's sub-office in Vienna is responsible for all patent information services (document dispatch, online access, etc.).

Vienna sub-office
Postfach 90
1031 Vienna
Austria
Tel.: +43 (0) 1 521 26 0
Fax: +43 (0) 1 521 26 3591
e-mail: infowien@epo.org

Contact

Further information about the European Patent Office and the procedures involved in applying for a European patent is available from the EPO's Information Offices. You can contact EPO Customer Services as follows:

Tel.: +49 (0) 89 2399-4636
info@epo.org

Munich
Information Office
Grasserstr. 6
80339 Munich
Germany

The Hague
Information Office
Patentlaan 2
2288 EE Rijswijk
Netherlands

To order copies of this guide, contact us on bookorder@epo.org