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C. PROCEDURE BEFORE SEARCH, EXAMINING AND OPPOSITION DIVISIONS

C.3.1 Utilisation scheme - permanent scheme

Decision of the President of the European Patent Office dated 5 October 2010 on the filing of copies of search results under Rule 141(1) EPC - utilisation scheme¹

OJ EPO 2010, 600

The President of the European Patent Office, having regard to Rules 141(1), (2) and Rule 70b(1), (2) of the European Patent Convention (EPC), has decided as follows:

Article 1

Inclusion of a copy of the search results in the file of a European patent application

The European Patent Office shall include in the file of a European patent application a copy of the search results referred to in Rule 141(1) EPC where a search report of the following type was drawn up by the European Patent Office on an application whose priority is claimed:

• European search report (Art. 92 EPC)
• international search report (Art. 15(1) PCT)
• international-type search (Art. 15(5) PCT)
• search report made on behalf of a national office on a national application (Belgium, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Turkey).

In these cases, the applicant shall be exempted from filing a copy of the search results under Rule 141(1) EPC.

Article 2

Entry into force

This decision shall enter into force on 1 January 2011 and shall apply to European patent applications and international applications filed on or after that date.

Done at Munich, 5. October 2010

Benoît BATTISTELLI

President