History, functions and tasks of the European Patent Office
EPO is the acronym of European patent Office, the Office charged of providing with uniform procedure in the field of patent protection in 38 European countries.
Since 1977, the Institute has to approve European patents under the supervision of the Administrative Council and has its office in Munich.
The Office has to examine European patent applications and grants them.
You can send your European patent here, choosing the service you are interested in and filling the on-line application to obtain a European Patent, or resort to UIBM (The Italian Patent and Trademark Office) which will forward the forms of application at the European Institute.
Once it is granted, the European Patent automatically gives an exclusive right on the production and commercialization of the invention in all the countries (38 at the moment) that joined the EPO convention without further bureaucratic formalities.
Moreover, EPO fulfills several specific tasks even for the Offices that deals with patent at a national level.
In Italy, for instance, as the patent is filed, UIBM (the Italian Office) gives the EPO the task to undertake a novelty search on the invention, in order to verify if it is really new. In case of successful outcome, it is possible to go on with the approval of the application and the grant of the patent.
LEGAL OPPOSITIONS
One of the mostly important task of EPO, among the others, is to examine the legal oppositions submitted against the European patent filed.
If you wish to proceed with the application of a European Patent, read the free downloadable guide where you can find useful information to fill your application.
Remember that EPO deals only with the reception of the application and not with the strategic advice (for example, the verification of the existence of similar patents) nor with the correct formulation of the application (protecting the patent’s key points, to make it faultless).
For this reason, we advise against acting as amateur. Resorting to an expert for the registration assures you the correct filling of the application and a preliminary search avoids possible objections obtaining really a strong protection.
Without the help of an expert in the field, the registration of a European patent is highly risky.
Ufficiobrevetti.it has the honor to collaborate with the Engineer Mario Emmi, Patent Agent for the European Union, specialized in this sector.
If you would like to receive extra information, you can contact him through his assistant at this mail address [email protected] writing the topic in the subject of the mail.