Basic definitions

A document

European patent application, published 18 months after filing with the EPO or 18 months after priority date

• A1 document

  European patent application published with European search report
  

• A2 document

  European patent application published without European search report (search report not available at the publication date)
  

• A3 document

  Separate publication of the European search report

• A4 document

  Supplementary search report

Corrected A document

• A8 document

  Corrected title page of an A document, ie. A1 or A2 document.
  

• A9 document

  Complete reprint of an A document, ie. A1, A2 or A3 document.

B document

European patent specification

• B1 document

  European patent specification (granted patent)

• B2 document

  New European patent specification (amended specification)

• B3 document

  European patent specification (after limitation procedure)
  

Corrected B document

• B8 document

  Corrected title page of a B document, ie. B1 or B2 document.

• B9 document

  Complete reprint of a B document, ie. B1 or B2 document.

Publication date

Publication date of the original European patent document, ie. A1, A2, A3, B1, B2 or B3 document.

Issue date (of the correction)

Date of issue of the corrected version of a European patent document.

W1

Supplementary correction code indicating the first (1st) corrected version of a patent document

W2

Supplementary correction code indicating the second (2nd) corrected version of a patent document

For further information on corrections to European patent documents, please forward your request to:

EPO Quality Control
Rennweg 12
1031 Vienna
Tel. : +43 (0)1 52126 2414 or 4454
Fax : +43 (0)1 52126 2221
qcontrol@epo.org