Shortly before Christmas, the European Patent Office’s Board of Appeal rejected an application to name an artificial intelligence system, Dabus, as an inventor on two patent applications EP 18 275 163 and EP 18 275 174. The full details of the decision have not emerged, but a brief press release gives some details of the case. The two...
A “Grace Period” for European Patents?
The European Patent Office has started a study to see whether a so-called "grace period" should be introduced into the European Patent system. Currently, the novelty requirement under the European Patent Convention (EPC) set out in Article 54 is an absolute novelty standard under which any disclosure made by the...
Patent Grace Period
Can you still patent an invention after details of the invention have been published? The answer is yes in some countries, but not in other countries. In order for an invention to be patentable, both the criteria of novelty and inventive step / non-obviousness have to be met. In general,...