EQE key terms

Requirement that an invention be new: no single prior-art disclosure, in state of the art under Art. 54 EPC, must directly and unambiguously disclose all claimed features in one piece of prior art.

Requirement that an invention, having regard to the prior art, is not obvious to a person skilled in the art; assessed by problem-and-solution approach at the EPO.

Everything made available to the public before the filing or priority date, by written or oral description, use, or any other way.

Hypothetical practitioner with ordinary knowledge and skill in the relevant technical field, presumed aware of common general knowledge, used as benchmark for obviousness.

Body of basic technical knowledge in a field that a skilled person is presumed to possess without needing a specific document, typically found in textbooks and standard handbooks.

EPO method for assessing inventive step: identify closest prior art, determine the objective technical problem, and ask whether the claimed solution was obvious.

Single prior-art document disclosing subject-matter conceived for the same purpose and sharing the most technical features with the claimed invention, used as starting point.

Problem reformulated in light of the closest prior art and the distinguishing features' technical effect, not necessarily the problem stated in the application.

Date of the first application for the same invention from which a later application validly claims priority; it sets the effective date for assessing novelty and inventive step.

Right to claim the filing date of an earlier application in a Paris Convention state within 12 months, if the earlier application supports the later claimed subject-matter.

Subject-matter extending beyond the content of the application as filed; amendments must be directly and unambiguously derivable from the original disclosure, otherwise impermissible under Art. 123(2) EPC.

Provision prohibiting amendments that add subject-matter beyond the content of the application as filed; assessed by the gold standard of directly and unambiguously derivable disclosure.

Provision prohibiting amendments to a granted European patent that extend the protection conferred, assessed by comparing the scope of the granted claims with the amended claims.

Requirement under Art. 83 EPC that the application disclose the invention clearly and completely enough for a skilled person to carry it out across the whole claimed scope.

Requirement under Art. 84 EPC that claims be clear, concise and supported by the description; clarity is not a ground of opposition after grant but can be examined on appeal.

Change to claims during examination, opposition or appeal, permitted only within the limits of Art. 123(2) and 123(3) EPC, and subject to procedural admission rules.

Post-grant procedure under Art. 99 EPC, available within nine months of grant, on limited grounds such as novelty, inventive step, sufficiency, added matter and excluded subject-matter.

Nine-month period from publication of the mention of grant during which any person may file an opposition against a European patent.

Review by the Boards of Appeal of an appealable decision of an EPO department, subject to a two-month time limit from notification and payment of the appeal fee.

Deadline for an act before the EPO; missed deadlines may be remedied by further processing or re-establishment, depending on the nature of the missed act.

Legal remedy under Art. 121 EPC allowing a party to complete a missed act and pay a fee, where the missed deadline relates to a non-substantive requirement.

Remedy under Art. 122 EPC restoring rights lost through failure to observe a time limit, requiring all due care and a fee within two months of the obstacle's removal.

International phase covering filing, international search, and publication, ending with optional demand for preliminary examination under Chapter II.

Optional international preliminary examination phase, initiated by demand, producing a non-binding written opinion on novelty, inventive step and industrial applicability.

Non-binding examination under PCT Chapter II assessing patentability of the claimed invention, resulting in a preliminary examination report used by national offices.

Non-binding opinion issued by the International Searching Authority or Preliminary Examining Authority on whether the claimed invention appears novel, inventive and industrially applicable.

International application entering the European regional phase, subject to EPO time limits, translation requirements and fees, and examined under the EPC.

Interpretation of claim language in light of the description and drawings, giving the skilled person's understanding rather than a literal or dictionary-only reading.

Claim defining the invention without reference to another claim; it must contain all essential features needed to solve the technical problem.

Claim referring back to and including all features of one or more other claims, adding further limiting features; it must be narrower than the claim it refers to.

Result produced by a distinguishing feature of the claimed invention relative to the prior art, used to formulate the objective technical problem.

Matter not regarded as an invention under Art. 52(2) and (3) EPC, such as discoveries, methods of treatment and presentations of information, unless a technical effect is present.

Instructions from a client to act on a matter; the representative must assess scope, urgency and any conflict, and clarify ambiguities before acting.

Written advice to a client on the legal position, risks and options, grounded in the applicable law and facts and clearly distinguishing assumption from conclusion.

Assessment of whether a planned product or process infringes third-party patents in a given jurisdiction, requiring claim construction and validity review.

Situation where a representative's duty to one client may be compromised by duties to another, requiring disclosure and possibly declining the mandate.

Computation of EPO time limits under the Rules, excluding the triggering day and extending to the next working day when the deadline falls on a non-working day.