INFORMATION FROM THE EPO
Notice dated 9 October 2006 concerning updated EPO Form 1004.1
EPO Form 1004.1 (General authorisation) has been updated and indicated as the (07.06) version. It is recommended that from now on applicants use only this new version.
More about EPO Form 1004.1:
The new (07.06) version of Form 1004.1 is reproduced below. Please use it in future, and replace any earlier electronic version you may have stored locally. Please read the attached notes before completing the form.
Full name and address of authorisor and of authorisee must be given. In the authorisee field please specify whether it is a professional representative, a legal practitioner, an employee or an association of representatives.
The powers mentioned separately in the form (to receive payments, to act in PCT proceedings and to give a sub-authorisation) must be expressly granted (e.g. by placing a cross in the appropriate box on the form). Powers other than those mentioned above may not be excluded in a general authorisation (OJ EPO 1985, 42).
Where the authorisation is signed on behalf of a legal person, only such persons as are entitled to sign by law and/or in accordance with the articles of association or equivalent of the legal person may do so (Article 58 EPC). If any other employee of a legal person signs by virtue of a special authorisation conferred by the legal person, this is to be indicated and a copy of the special authorisation, which need not be certified, is to be supplied. An authorisation bearing the signature of a person not entitled to sign will be treated as an unsigned authorisation.
Ordering the form
All forms are available free of charge from the EPO (preferably in Vienna but also in Munich, The Hague and Berlin) and the central industrial property offices of the contracting states. The latest versions can also be downloaded in PDF format from the EPO's website (http://www.epo.org → Tool box for applicants).
The embedded forms within this article are for technical reasons only available in the PDF version of this article.