You do not need to demonstrate this when you file the application, but inadequate or missing documentation can later lead to disputes about who is the holder, or even to the patent becoming invalid. It is important to properly document how you are the holder. In Germany, this is regulated by the Law on Employee Inventions, which incidentally also includes guidelines on remuneration. For instance, under the laws of the Netherlands and Germany, the right of employees whose work activities encompass inventions passes in principle to their employer. Whether this is also the case in practice depends on the specific situation and national laws.
In principle, you have this right if you are the inventor. Applications that do not meet the requirements will be rejected.įurthermore, it is also important that you have the formal right to file the application. For instance, if the application include sequences of nucleotides or amino acids, then the description should also contain a list of these sequences. There may be additional requirements, depending on why you are applying for a patent. These depend on the country or region in which the application is filed. You will also need to pay all of the required fees. This can be done, for example, by using a form made available by the patent granting authority in which one indicates that one wishes to have a patent based on the attached documents (the aforementioned specification, claims, etc.). Finally, you need to clearly show in the application that you are applying for a patent. A further requirement is an abstract of the application. The application also needs to include one or more patent claims which define the scope of protection required for the invention. This description should enable a skilled person to replicate the invention, which may involve using practical examples and/or drawings, for instance. To do this, you need a description of the invention.
The postponement of the decision to grant can ensure that the European patent can still qualify for UP protection.īefore filing an application, you need to draft a written application for a patent, or have this drafted for you, and file this with a patent-granting authority. The postponement can be requested after the intention to grant has been announced, but not after the applicant has approved the text intended for granting. Through the second transitional measure, an applicant may request a postponement of the decision to grant. For such requests filed in advance, “the EPO to register unitary effect immediately at the start of the system, provided all corresponding requirements are met” The first transitional measure will allow applicants to file early requests for unitary effect before the date of entry into force of the UPC. The European Patent Office will make two transitional measures available ahead of the entry into force of the Unitary Patent system, as of the date of deposit of Germany’s instrument of ratification of the UPCA. It is not absolutely certain yet that the Unitary Patent system will start, let alone when exactly, although this is likely to happen by the end of 2022 or early 2023. Whether this is interesting from a cost-perspective or from a legal perspective, will depend on the situation. In addition an opt-out has to be filed.įor new patent applications (applications still in their priority year or applications that have yet to be filed) you could consider to file national applications in the European countries of interest, instead of filing a European patent application. So you can choose to have some of your European patent rights opted-out from the UPC and others opted-in.įor pending European patent applications: once the patent is granted, you can validate the patent the individual countries in which you want to patent to enter into farce and without registering as a Unitary Patent. The requests for opting out will have to be made for each European patent individually. The possibility of filing an opt out will be available already a few months before the start of the UPC. In that case, you must submit what is known as an opt-out request for your current European patent(s), so that nothing will change and court cases will be handled by the national courts only. You will be able to opt for (continued) applicability of the current system to your European patent(s).
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