6.1 Registration 

A European patent application may give rise to rights in rem, may be licensed and may be the subject of legal means of execution. Only contractual licences can be registered (Art. 73). Licences and other rights may be geographically limited to certain parts of the territories of the designated contracting states.

In the case of co-applicants, each of them must consent to the registration of licences.

Rule 22(1) and Rule 22(2) applies mutatis mutandis to the registration of the grant, establishment or transfer of such rights (see E‑XIII, 3 E‑XIV, 3). Licences and other rights cannot be registered in the European Patent Register after the decision to grant has become effective (Art. 97(3)).

A licence will be recorded in the European Patent Register as an exclusive licence if the applicant and the licensee so request. A licence will be recorded as a sub-licence where it is granted by a licensee whose licence is recorded in the European Patent Register.