ニュース&リソース
November Bulletin: EPO Divisionals & other updates
EPO divisonals
The abolition of the divisional time limit on 1 April 2014 means that any divisional deadlines set from now on can be ignored as they will expire after 1 April. It also means that there will be many cases on which it will become possible to file divisionals again after 1 April even though the deadline has already expired.
There will be some cases where the divisional deadline expires before April and there is also a chance of the case being granted before April. For these cases, the divisional deadline will still be important and should be monitored. When a Rule 71(3) communication is received on a case for which the divisional deadline has already expired, we recommend considering delaying grant until after 1 April so that it will be possible to file a divisional.
The EPO announcements can be found here:
http://www.epo.org/law-practice/legal-texts/official-journal/ac-decisions/archive/20131024a.html
http://www.epo.org/law-practice/legal-texts/official-journal/ac-decisions/archive/20131014b.html
Other updates
- Amendments to the PCT rules will come into force on 1 July 2014. These are:
(i) the IPE will include a top-up search, and
(ii) the written opinion of the ISA will be available online from the date of publication of the application.
- The EPO has announced changes to what it regards as an “association of representatives”. Such associations can now include in-house attorneys:
http://www.epo.org/law-practice/legal-texts/official-journal/ac-decisions/archive/20131024.html
http://www.epo.org/law-practice/legal-texts/official-journal/information-epo/archive/20131104.html
- The EPO’s street address has changed (not its postal address) to mark its 40th anniversary:
http://archive.epo.org/epo/pubs/oj013/10_13/10_4423.pdf .
A 15th edition of the EPC has also been released to mark the anniversary.
- The five biggest IP offices (EPO, JPO, KIPO, SIPO and USPTO) are launching a joint pilot patent prosecution highway program in January 2014. This will be PCT-based and will speed up national phase examination at each office where one of the other offices found an invention patentable in the international phase.
- The ePCT filing pilot at the IB has been opened up to all ePCT users.
- Luxembourg and Brunei have joined the Hague Agreement.