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Guidelines for Examination in the EPO

Guidelines for Examination - Table of Contents  
PART A GUIDELINES FOR FORMALITIES EXAMINATION General Part PART B  
CHAPTER III EXAMINATION OF FORMAL REQUIREMENTS CHAPTER II FILING OF APPLICATIONS AND EXAMINATION ON FILING CHAPTER IV SPECIAL PROVISIONS  
6. Claim to priority (see also C-V) 5. Designation of inventor 7. Title of the invention  
6.5 Declaration of priority 6.4 Examination of the priority document 6.6 Priority period  

6.5

Declaration of priority

 

An applicant wishing to claim priority must file a declaration of priority indicating:

Art. 88(1)

Rule 52(1)

Rule 41(2)(g)

Art. 90(4)



(i)

the date of the previous application,

 

(ii)

the State or WTO member in or for which it was filed and

 

(iii)

its file number.

 

The declaration of priority shall preferably be made on filing the European patent application (Rule 52(2)). In such a case the declaration of priority, indicating at least the date on which and the country for which the earlier application was filed, should be present in the Request for grant form (Rule 41(2)(g)). However, if a priority claim is added or corrected after the Request for grant form has been filed (see III, 6.5.1 and III, 6.5.2), the applicant will not be invited by the EPO to file a corrected Request for grant under Rule 58.

 

The time limit for filing the certified copy of the priority document is the same as the time limit for making the priority claim (see III, 6.5.1 and 6.7). Consequently, where:

 

(a)

the applicant supplies the certified copy on time

 

(b)

it is in an official language of the EPO

 

(c)

the date and file number are indicated on the certified copy

 

then the requirements of Rule 52(1) with regard to providing the date and file number of the priority are met.

 

 6.5.1 Filing a new priority claim

 6.5.2 Correcting an existing priority claim

 6.5.3 Deficiencies in the priority claim and loss of the priority right


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