The European Patent Office has announced a new fee reduction scheme, specifically designed for micro-entities, effective April 1, 2024. This scheme aims to support smaller and less experienced entities in Europe by easing access to the European patent system. It introduces a 30% fee reduction for various patent-related fees for...
European Patent Office – Fee Increases
The European Patent Office has announced a series of fee increases from 1 April that are set to impact various stages of the patent application and maintenance process. These adjustments are part of the EPO's regular review to ensure that the office remains financially self-sustaining, while also investing in improving...
EPO – Acceleration of Oppositions
The European Patent Office (EPO) announced on 7 November 2023 a new policy concerning accelerated processing of oppositions where an infringement or revocation action has been instituted before the Unified Patent Court or a national court or competent authority of a contracting state. This is a change to the current...
Inventions based on Data Collection
The European Patent Office is still developing its case law on inventions which involve the collection and use of data. A few years ago, the Enlarged Board of Appeal in case G1/19 reviewed a patent application relating to the simulation of the movements of pedestrians. It concluded that the application...
Artificial Intelligence, Inventive Step and Disclosure
A further decision from the European Patent Office’s Boards of Appeal illustrates the challenges faced by patent applicants when filing for patents for artificial intelligence (AI) inventions but also provides a number of suggestions on the level of detail that the patent office requires when disclosing the invention. The decision...
Neural Networks and Technical Problems
According to the European Patent Office's Board of Appeal Decision T 0702/20, a neural network defines a class of mathematical functions and, as such, cannot be protected by a European Patent. However, the neural network can be considered when assessing the inventive stop used to solve a technical problem and...
Classifying Spam – not patentable in Europe
The challenges in obtaining European patent protection for inventions in the field of artificial intelligence have been highlighted in a recent decision by the European Patent Office’s Board of Appeal in dealing with a European patent application Nr. 14725807.3 by Google for “classifying resources using a deep network”. The patent...
When is an invention “novel”?
One of the key requirements to get a patent application is that the invention needs to be "new" or "novel". That may sound a simple definition - the European Patent Convention states an invention is "considered to be new if it does not form part of the state of the...
All Change for European Patent Litigation
What will change for you once the UPC is up and running?
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...