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Convention on the Grant of European Patents
(European Patent Convention)

of 5 October 1973 
as revised by the Act revising Article 63 EPC of 17 December 1991 
and the Act revising the EPC of 29 November 2000[ 1 ]
 

 

Preamble
Part I
General and institutional provisions
Chapter I
General provisions
Art. 1
European law for the grant of patents
Art. 2
European patent
Art. 3
Territorial effect
Art. 4
European Patent Organisation
Art. 4a
Conference of ministers of the Contracting States
Chapter II
The European Patent Organisation
Art. 5
Legal status
Art. 6
Headquarters
Art. 7
Sub-offices of the European Patent Office
Art. 8
Privileges and immunities
Art. 9
Liability
Chapter III
The European Patent Office
Art. 10
Management
Art. 11
Appointment of senior employees
Art. 12
Duties of office
Art. 13
Disputes between the Organisation and the employees of the European Patent Office
Art. 14
Languages of the European Patent Office, European patent applications and other documents
Art. 15
Departments entrusted with the procedure
Art. 16
Receiving Section
Art. 17
Search Divisions
Art. 18
Examining Divisions
Art. 19
Opposition Divisions
Art. 20
Legal Division
Art. 21
Boards of Appeal
Art. 22
Enlarged Board of Appeal
Art. 23
Independence of the members of the Boards
Art. 24
Exclusion and objection
Art. 25
Technical opinion
Chapter IV
The Administrative Council
Art. 26
Membership
Art. 27
Chairmanship
Art. 28
Board
Art. 29
Meetings
Art. 30
Attendance of observers
Art. 31
Languages of the Administrative Council
Art. 32
Staff, premises and equipment
Art. 33
Competence of the Administrative Council in certain cases
Art. 34
Voting rights
Art. 35
Voting rules
Art. 36
Weighting of votes
Chapter V
Financial provisions
Art. 37
Budgetary funding
Art. 38
The Organisation's own resources
Art. 39
Payments by the Contracting States in respect of renewal fees for European patents
Art. 40
Level of fees and payments – Special financial contributions
Art. 41
Advances
Art. 42
Budget
Art. 43
Authorisation for expenditure
Art. 44
Appropriations for unforeseeable expenditure
Art. 45
Accounting period
Art. 46
Preparation and adoption of the budget
Art. 47
Provisional budget
Art. 48
Budget implementation
Art. 49
Auditing of accounts
Art. 50
Financial Regulations
Art. 51
Fees
Part II
Substantive patent law
Chapter I
Patentability
Art. 52
Patentable inventions
Art. 53
Exceptions to patentability
Art. 54
Novelty
Art. 55
Non-prejudicial disclosures
Art. 56
Inventive step
Art. 57
Industrial application
Chapter II
Persons entitled to apply for and obtain a European patent – Mention of the inventor
Art. 58
Entitlement to file a European patent application
Art. 59
Multiple applicants
Art. 60
Right to a European patent
Art. 61
European patent applications filed by non-entitled persons
Art. 62
Right of the inventor to be mentioned
Chapter III
Effects of the European patent and the European patent application
Art. 63
Term of the European patent
Art. 64
Rights conferred by a European patent
Art. 65
Translation of the European patent
Art. 66
Equivalence of European filing with national filing
Art. 67
Rights conferred by a European patent application after publication
Art. 68
Effect of revocation or limitation of the European patent
Art. 69
Extent of protection
Art. 70
Authentic text of a European patent application or European patent
Chapter IV
The European patent application as an object of property
Art. 71
Transfer and constitution of rights
Art. 72
Assignment
Art. 73
Contractual licensing
Art. 74
Law applicable
Part III
The European patent application
Chapter I
Filing and requirements of the European patent application
Art. 75
Filing of a European patent application
Art. 76
European divisional applications
Art. 77
Forwarding of European patent applications
Art. 78
Requirements of a European patent application
Art. 79
Designation of Contracting States
Art. 80
Date of filing
Art. 81
Designation of the inventor
Art. 82
Unity of invention
Art. 83
Disclosure of the invention
Art. 84
Claims
Art. 85
Abstract
Art. 86
Renewal fees for the European patent application
Chapter II
Priority
Art. 87
Priority right
Art. 88
Claiming priority
Art. 89
Effect of priority right
Part IV
Procedure up to grant
Art. 90
Examination on filing and examination as to formal requirements
Art. 91 
(deleted) 
Art. 92
Drawing up of the European search report
Art. 93
Publication of the European patent application
Art. 94
Examination of the European patent application
Art. 95 
(deleted) 
Art. 96 
(deleted) 
Art. 97
Grant or refusal
Art. 98
Publication of the specification of the European patent
Part V
Opposition and limitation procedure
Art. 99
Opposition
Art. 100
Grounds for opposition
Art. 101
Examination of the opposition – Revocation or maintenance of the European patent
Art. 102 
(deleted) 
Art. 103
Publication of a new specification of the European patent
Art. 104
Costs
Art. 105
Intervention of the assumed infringer
Art. 105a
Request for limitation or revocation
Art. 105b
Limitation or revocation of the European patent
Art. 105c
Publication of the amended specification of the European patent
Part VI
Appeals procedure
Art. 106
Decisions subject to appeal
Art. 107
Persons entitled to appeal and to be parties to appeal proceedings
Art. 108
Time limit and form
Art. 109
Interlocutory revision
Art. 110
Examination of appeals
Art. 111
Decision in respect of appeals
Art. 112
Decision or opinion of the Enlarged Board of Appeal
Art. 112a
Petition for review by the Enlarged Board of Appeal
Part VII
Common provisions
Chapter I
Common provisions governing procedure
Art. 113
Right to be heard and basis of decisions
Art. 114
Examination by the European Patent Office of its own motion
Art. 115
Observations by third parties
Art. 116
Oral proceedings
Art. 117
Means and taking of evidence
Art. 118
Unity of the European patent application or European patent
Art. 119
Notification
Art. 120
Time limits
Art. 121
Further processing of the European patent application
Art. 122
Re-establishment of rights
Art. 123
Amendments
Art. 124
Information on prior art
Art. 125
Reference to general principles
Art. 126 
(deleted) 
Chapter II
Information to the public or to official authorities
Art. 127
European Patent Register
Art. 128
Inspection of files
Art. 129
Periodical publications
Art. 130
Exchange of information
Art. 131
Administrative and legal co-operation
Art. 132
Exchange of publications
Chapter III
Representation
Art. 133
General principles of representation
Art. 134
Representation before the European Patent Office
Art. 134a
Institute of Professional Representatives before the European Patent Office
Part VIII
Impact on national law
Chapter I
Conversion into a national patent application
Art. 135
Request for conversion
Art. 136 
(deleted) 
Art. 137
Formal requirements for conversion
Chapter II
Revocation and prior rights
Art. 138
Revocation of European patents
Art. 139
Prior rights and rights arising on the same date
Chapter III
Miscellaneous effects
Art. 140
National utility models and utility certificates
Art. 141
Renewal fees for European patents
Part IX
Special agreements
Art. 142
Unitary patents
Art. 143
Special departments of the European Patent Office
Art. 144
Representation before special departments
Art. 145
Select committee of the Administrative Council
Art. 146
Cover for expenditure for carrying out special tasks
Art. 147
Payments in respect of renewal fees for unitary patents
Art. 148
The European patent application as an object of property
Art. 149
Joint designation
Art. 149a
Other agreements between the Contracting States
Part X
International applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty – Euro-PCT applications
Art. 150
Application of the Patent Cooperation Treaty
Art. 151
The European Patent Office as a receiving Office
Art. 152
The European Patent Office as an International Searching Authority or International Preliminary Examining Authority
Art. 153
The European Patent Office as designated Office or elected Office
Art. 154 
(deleted) 
Art. 155 
(deleted) 
Art. 156 
(deleted) 
Art. 157 
(deleted) 
Art. 158 
(deleted) 
Part XI
Transitional Provisions
 
(deleted) 
Part XII
Final provisions
Art. 164
Implementing Regulations and Protocols
Art. 165
Signature – Ratification
Art. 166
Accession
Art. 167 
(deleted) 
Art. 168
Territorial field of application
Art. 169
Entry into force
Art. 170
Initial contribution
Art. 171
Duration of the Convention
Art. 172
Revision
Art. 173
Disputes between Contracting States
Art. 174
Denunciation
Art. 175
Preservation of acquired rights
Art. 176
Financial rights and obligations of former Contracting States
Art. 177
Languages of the Convention
Art. 178
Transmission and notifications

 

 

 
[ 1 ]
The new text of the Convention adopted by the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation by decision of 28 June 2001 (see OJ EPO 2001, Special edition No. 4, p. 55) has become an integral part of the Revision Act of 29 November 2000 under Article 3(2), second sentence, of that Act.

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