ニュース&リソース

26.11.13

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 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.
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