EUROPEAN PATENT ORGANISATION
Norway accedes to the European Patent Convention
1. Accession to the EPC
On 5 October 2007, the Government of the Kingdom of Norway (NO) deposited the instrument of notification of the European Patent Convention (EPC) and the instrument of accession to the Act revising the EPC of 29 November 2000.
The EPC will accordingly enter into force for Norway on 1 January 2008.
The European Patent Organisation will thus comprise the following 33 member states as from 1 January 2008:
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
Further information concerning the effects of this accession and the provisions which Norway has enacted for the implementation of the EPC will be published in later issues of the Official Journal.
2. Important information
European patent applications filed on or after 1 January 2008 will include the designation of the new contracting state.1 It will not be possible to designate Norway retroactively in applications filed before that date.
To allow the new contracting state to be designated, however, the EPO will accord European patent applications filed in December 2007 the filing date of 1 January 2008 if the applicant expressly requests that filing date when filing the application.
3. PCT
Nationals of Norway and persons having their principal place of business or residence in Norway will also be entitled, as from 1 January 2008, to file international applications with the European Patent Office as receiving Office.
Any PCT request (PCT/RO/101) filed on or after 1 January 2008 will automatically designate the new EPC contracting state for the purpose of obtaining a European patent (Rule 4.9(a)(iii) PCT).
No European patents for Norway can be granted on the basis of international applications with a filing date prior to 1 January 2008. However, a national patent can be granted, assuming that Norway has been designated in the international application. The designation of Norway at the time an international application with a filing date prior to 1 January 2008 enters the European phase2 is legally invalid.
1 See Article 79 EPC (Section 31 of the Request for Grant form, EPA/EPO/OEB Form 1001 12.07; see Special edition No. 7, OJ EPO 2007). Norway will be included in a new version of the form.
To obtain a reduction in the examination fee under Rule 6(3) EPC and Article 14(1) RFees, the request for examination may be worded as follows in Norwegian:
Med dette begjæres prøving av patentsøknaden i henhold til Art. 94
(see Section II, point 5, of the Notes on Form 1001). As Section 5 of Form 1001 (left-hand column) already contains a preprinted written request for examination in the EPO's official languages, the recommended procedure is to enter the written request for examination in Norwegian in the right-hand column of Section 5. The request for examination in this language may however also be submitted later at any time before the examination fee is paid (see decision J 21/98 of the Legal Board of Appeal, published in OJ EPO 2000, 406).
2 EPA/EPO/OEB Form 1200 12.07; see Special edition No. 7, OJ EPO 2007.