Guide for Applicants - Part 1 - Table of Contents   Foreword

Foreword

The "Guide for applicants" has been designed to provide companies, inventors and their representatives with an outline of the procedure involved in applying for a European patent.

This thoroughly revised and expanded new edition (December 2007) of the first part of the Guide is based on the revised EPC (EPC 2000), which entered into force on 13 December 2007. All references to articles or rules in this Guide therefore relate to the EPC as in force since that date. Please note, however, that in some cases certain provisions of the earlier European Patent Convention (EPC 1973) will continue to apply for applications which were pending at the time the revised EPC entered into force.

The second part of the Guide is devoted to the Euro-PCT route (How to get a European patent, Guide for applicants - Part 2, Euro-PCT, see point 8).