Office of the Administrator for Policy and External Affairs - Patents
The patent group of Policy and External Affairs specializes in patent-related domestic and international policy and enforcement matters. This group is tasked with ensuring implementation and adherence with international treaty obligations relating to patents and trade. The group is further responsible for advising on negotiations and monitoring enforcement of treaty provisions relating to patent and trade issues, as well as providing technical assistance and training on patent-related matters for both US and foreign officials. For example, the patent group has been involved with the development, negotiation, and monitoring of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), and the Patent Law Treaty (PLT). For further information on these issues and treaties, please visit the following links below:
Comments on the Federal Trade Commission's Report, "The Evolving IP Marketplace: Aligning Patent Notice and Remedies with Competition"
Comments on the Federal Trade Commission’s Report of March 2011, “The Evolving IP Marketplace: Aligning Patent Notice and Remedies with Competition” (November 2011)
Notice to Applicants Regarding Rule Changes at the European Patent Office
- Notice to Applicants Regarding Rule Changes at the European Patent Office
On October 28, 2009, the Administrative Council of the European Patent Office (EPO) decided to change certain EPO procedural rules (European Patent Convention amended Rule 141 and new Rule 70(b)) for the purpose of introducing a permanent scheme in the EPO for reutilization of work done by other patent offices on related applications. See Decision CA/D 18/09 of October 28, 2009, 585 OJ EPO 2009, available at http://archive.epo.org/epo/pubs/oj009/12_09/12_5859.pdf. A subsequent notice containing additional details was published by the EPO on July 28, 2010. See http://www.epo.org/patents/law/legal-texts/journal/informationEPO/archive/20100803.html?update=law.
The effect of the rule changes is, as a general matter, to require applicants claiming Paris Convention priority in a European patent application to a previously filed application to file a copy of the results of any search carried out by the patent office with which the priority application was filed (the office of first filing or “OFF”) together with the European patent application, or, in the case of a Euro-PCT application, upon its entry into the European phase.
Importantly, however, the new rules provide an exemption from the requirement where the results from the OFF are available to the EPO, under conditions determined by the EPO President.
On December 9, 2010, the EPO published a Decision of the President of the EPO, effective from January 1, 2011, which exempts applicants for whom the USPTO was the OFF from the requirements of EPC Rules 141 and 70(b). Accordingly, applicants filing first with the USPTO and filing a subsequent application with the EPO claiming Paris Convention priority are not required to provide to the EPO the USPTO search results for the priority application, as these search results will be made available to the EPO by the USPTO.
Additional details regarding the exemption can be found at: http://www.epo.org/patents/law/legal-texts/journal/informationEPO/archive/20101209.html?update=law
For further information, please see the EPO website at: www.european-patent-office.org.
Hague System for the International Deposit of Industrial Designs
International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants
TRIPS: Trade-Related Aspects of IP Rights
Related Links
- The London Agreement: What It Means for U.S. Applicants
- USPTO information on PCT filing
- WIPO IP laws for all member countries
- Trilateral
- IP5
- USPTO patent main page
- Hague Convention on Private International Law - DRAFT [PDF]
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