Article 51

EUROPEAN PATENT OFFICE

Information from the EPO

Notice from the European Patent Office dated 21 June 2021 on the information published in the European Patent Bulletin concerning Euro-PCT applications fulfilling the requirements of Rule 165 EPC and comprised in the state of the art under Article 54(3) EPC

Pursuant to Article 153(5) EPC, in conjunction with Rule 165 EPC, a Euro-PCT application is included in the state of the art under Article 54(3) EPC if the Euro-PCT applicant has paid the filing fee under Rule 159(1)(c) EPC and, where the Euro-PCT application was not published in an official language of the EPO, filed a translation. This means that a Euro-PCT application does not need to fulfil all conditions for entry into the European phase in order to be considered a conflicting European application under Article 54(3) EPC. For further information, please see Guidelines, G-IV, 5.2.

The European Patent Bulletin is to be updated to identify those Euro-PCT applications that did not enter the European phase but are nonetheless considered as comprised in the state of the art in proceedings before the EPO. A new Section I.2(2), entitled "International applications considered as comprised in the state of the art under Rule 165 and Article 54(3) EPC", will be added and existing Section I.2, entitled "International applications not entering the European phase, arranged by international publication number", will be renumbered Section I.2(1). This new structure will first appear in European Patent Bulletin edition 34/2021, published on 25 August 2021.

These changes do not affect the EP bibliographic data (EBD) service.1