Missing parts under the PCT and the EPC

Under the EPC applicants have the possibility to file missing parts while keeping the same filing date provided the missing parts are completely contained in the priority application.

A similar possibility exists under the PCT, however there is a slight difference, in the sense that under the PCT the missing parts must be completely contained in the priority application(s) from which priority is claimed upon filing. The EPC provisions do not appear to have this requirement.

As a result an applicant may be allowed (after having filed his application) to first add an additional priority claim and then file "missing parts" of the application based on this later added priority claim.

During a seminar of the EPI on the PCT earlier today,  this difference was brought under the attention to a speaker from the EPO. Although he more or less agreed with the person making this comment that adding "missing part" in this way probably contravenes Article 123(2) he admitted that it is not forbidden under the EPC per se.

This appears to be one of the loopholes in the law which one day will be solved either by case law or revision of the law.

More snippets from this seminar to come....

Clean editable version of the EPC

Today I added a clean and editable version of the EPC articles to the downloads section. A similar version for the rules will follow someday. I started copying the official text from the EPO website already some time ago, yet never did anything with it so far. The text you find was made using the Google docs platform and is (as far as I've checked) free of any annotations or errors. You can download it in several forms and use it for further editing. Most probably this tool is a bit late for EQE 2010 sitters, yet for those considering doing "D" in 2011 this may be of use.

Anyway, the link below should give you "read-only" access to the Google docs document. Please let me know if the link does not work properly and/or if there are still some errors in this document (which is unlikely by the way...)

As mentioned before a similar document with the Rules will follow someday, probably beginning 2010. Again, if you like to help, let me know, see also here.


Click here for the document

PCT Newsletter - November 2009 available

The latest issue of the PCT Newsletter (No. 11/2009) is now available on

the PCT Resources page in:

PDF at:
http://www.wipo.int/edocs/pctndocs/en/2009/pct_news_2009_11.pdf

The practical advice this month is mainly related to electronic filing, to my opinion not so relevant for the EQE. One thing to remember both for the EPC and PCT is that a fee reduction applies when applicants file electronically. Thus, e-filing is in the interest of your D2 client, hence mentioning this may be worth a mark (you never know...).

For what it's worth, I will update the PCT summary.

Low activity

Due to other priorities I won't be very active on this Blog for the next few weeks.