INFORMATION FROM THE EPO
Triway Pilot Programme between the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the European Patent Office and the Japan Patent Office
Following the publication regarding the Triway Pilot Programme between the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the European Patent Office and the Japan Patent Office (published OJ EPO 2008, 442), the form for the participation in the Triway Pilot Programme EPA/EPO/OEB 1008 is published in OJ EPO 10/2008.
A request form (EPA/EPO/OEB 1008) is available from the EPO website at http://www.epo.org.
Notes on participation in the Triway Pilot Programme between the USPTO, the EPO and the JPO (EPA/EPO/OEB Form 1008)
Introduction
These notes explain how to complete EPA/EPO/ OEB Form 1008 (Participation in the Triway pilot programme between the USPTO, the EPO and the JPO). The form can be obtained from the EPO.
Filling in Form 1008
The sections of the form should be completed as follows:
- USPTO application number and filing date
Enter the patent application number and the filing date assigned by the USPTO. - Corresponding EP application number Enter the number of the corresponding European patent application which should be processed under Triway.
- JPO application number and filing date Enter the patent application number and the filing date assigned by the JPO.
1. USPTO has granted the request for participation in the Triway pilot programme/special status has been granted to the US application.
2. EP application is complete at the time of filing
Applicant must provide the Office with the claims, the description, any translations required and, where applicable, the drawings and a sequence listing conforming to the rules for the standardised representation of nucleotide or amino acid sequences. In particular, prosecution under Triway will not be possible if use is made of the possibility of referring to an earlier application (see Rule 40(1)(c) in conjunction with (2) EPC) or of subsequently filing parts of the description, or drawings under Rule 56 EPC, as well as where the claims are filed subsequently.
3. EP application is limited to a single invention
4. Upon receipt of the USPTO search report, a copy thereof will be promptly filed in the corresponding EP application together with the table of correspondence of claims and translated versions of foreign language citations in one of the EPO official languages
A completed claims correspondence table shall indicate how the claims of the European patent application which is requested to be processed under Triway correspond to the claims determined to be patentable in the corresponding USPTO application. The claims correspond sufficiently when they are of the same or similar scope.
- Place:
Enter the place of filing of Form 1008. - Date:
Enter the date of filing of Form 1008. - Name:
Enter the name of the person entitled to sign. - Signature:
If the applicant is a legal person other than an individual, the form must be signed:
-- either by a person entitled to sign under the law or the applicant's statute, articles of association or the like, with an indication of the capacity of the person doing so (e.g. chairman, director, company secretary) (Art. 133(1) EPC), in which case no authorisation need be filed
-- or by another employee of the applicant, provided the latter's principal place of business is in a contracting state (Art. 133(3), first sentence, Rule 152(1) EPC), in which case an authorisation must be filed.
Online filing
Please note that online filing is currently not available for Triway requests. The EPO will notify applicants accordingly once the specially adapted version of the EPO Online Filing software for the purpose of filing Triway requests is available.