INFORMATION FROM THE EPO
Notice of the European Patent Office dated 5 April 1991 concerning the possibility of renouncing the Notification to the inventor according to Rule 17(3) EPC
In practice, the information supplied to the inventor under Rule 17(3) EPC will cause the inventor to make enquiries with the applicant, or his representative, when he is not clear about its significance.
In order to avoid this and also to reduce the substantial amount of work involved, attention is drawn to the possibility of renouncing the notification to the inventor.
This renunciation must be by the inventor, addressed to the EPO in written form, and has to be filed with the designation of inventor. It must contain the information to be supplied to the inventor by the EPO under Rule 17(3) EPC, i.e.:
(a) the number and date of filing of the European patent application, if known:
(b) where the priority of an earlier application is claimed, the date and State of the earlier application, and its number, if known;
(c) the name of the applicant;
(d) the title of the invention;
(e) the Contracting States expressly designated in the Request for Grant form;
(f) the name(s) of any co-inventor(s).
(cf. Article 128(5) EPC and Guidelines A-III, 5.3).
In this way the special safeguards for the inventor provided in the Convention are ensured. It also leads to a reduction of the work involved by the inventors and their representatives and by the EPO.
Therefore attention is drawn to a more frequent use of that method.