Petitions for review of the European Patent Office (EPO) appeal board decisions by the EPO Enlarged Board of Appeal. Part V: ‘Confidence’ in the European Patent Office (EPO) Petition for Review procedure under Article 112a of the European Patent Convention (EPC)

Abstract

A patent is a short-term monopoly granted in relation to an invention by (or for) a country to a patentee who may then ask the national courts of the country to order others to stop using the invention.1 They are applied for and, if accepted, are granted, whereafter, in certain jurisdictions, others may oppose their grant. If such an opposition is successful, the patent is revoked. In Europe, since the late 1970s, the dominant patent law has been the European Patent Convention (EPC), a treaty that is administered by an international organization, the European Patent Office (EPO), headquartered in Munich, Germany.2 Belgium, like most European countries, is party to the EPC. It should be noted that the EPC system is not a European Union system. When a European patent application is filed, it is first checked for formalities and, if it passes this test, it is subjected to...