1.5 1.4 Common representative

Joint applicants, joint proprietors of patents and more than one person giving joint notice of opposition or intervention may act through a common representative. If the request for the grant of a European patent, the notice of opposition or the request for intervention does not name a common representative, the party first named in the relevant document will be considered the common representative. The common representative can thus be a legal person. However, if one of the parties is obliged to appoint a professional representative and has done so, this representative will be considered the common representative acting on behalf of all parties. In such a case, no other party can act as common representative. However, if the first named party in the document has appointed a professional representative, that representative will be considered to be acting on behalf of all parties.

If the European patent application or patent is transferred to more than one person, and such persons have not appointed a common representative, the preceding provisions will apply. If such application is not possible, the EPO will require the parties to appoint a common representative within a two-month period specified by the EPO (see E‑VIII, 1.6). If this request is not complied with, the EPO will appoint the common representative (J 10/96).

In the case of joint applicants for whom a change of representative is requested, any authorisation must be signed by all applicants. If this is not the case, the parties will likewise be invited to appoint a common representative before registration can take place. If the invitation is not complied with, the EPO will appoint the common representative.

For Rule 151 to apply, each party or their duly authorised representative must have signed the document (request for grant, notice of opposition, etc.) giving rise to their participation (see also A‑III, 4.2.2 and A‑VIII, 3.2 and A-VIII, 3.4). Otherwise the party cannot take part in the proceedings, nor therefore be represented by a common representative.

1.5Representation by a legal practitioner

Representation in proceedings under the EPC may also be undertaken in the same way as by a professional representative (see A‑VIII, 1.2) by any legal practitioner qualified in one of the contracting states and having their place of business within such state, to the extent that they are entitled, within the said state, to act as a professional representative in patent matters. Legal practitioners entitled to act as representatives before the EPO are not entered on the list of professional representatives (see J 18/99). However, they are registered in an internal database administered by the Legal Division (see OJ EPO 2013, 600).