2.4 Choosing a route: national, European or international
2.4.2Legal factors
2.4.004A European patent is granted after an examination designed to establish whether the European patent application and the invention to which it relates comply with the patentability requirements of the EPC.
These requirements are the basis not only for the granting of a European patent, but also for the assessment of its validity by national courts. In addition, under the EPC the extent of the protection conferred by the European patent is determined uniformly for all the contracting states.
2.4.005The grant procedure is conducted by the EPO's Receiving Section, search divisions and examining divisions; if they decide against your application, you can file an appeal before the boards of appeal of the EPO. Once a European patent has been granted, there follows a nine-month period in which third parties are entitled to file a reasoned notice of opposition; and at the end of the resulting opposition proceedings, either the patent is maintained as granted or as amended or it is revoked. The decision taken in the opposition proceedings applies to all designated contracting states and can also be appealed before the boards of appeal of the EPO.
2.4.006European patents have a uniform wording and a uniform extent of protection for all designated contracting states (but see points 4.2.027 and 4.2.039) and offer a high presumption of validity.
Patent law in the contracting states has been extensively harmonised with the EPC in terms of patentability requirements. However, as grant procedures continue to be differently structured and are conducted in parallel by several offices, the national route generally leads to national rights with differing extents of protection.