EUROPEAN PATENT OFFICE
Information from the EPO
Notice from the European Patent Office dated 14 May 2021 concerning exemption under Rule 141(2) EPC from filing a copy of the search results – utilisation scheme
1. Rule 141(2) EPC provides that a copy of the search results under Rule 141(1) EPC is deemed to be duly filed if it is available to the European Patent Office (EPO) and to be included in the file of the European patent application under the conditions determined by the President of the EPO.1
2. Following a decision of the President of the EPO, the EPO includes the above-mentioned copy in the file of a European patent application where it has drawn up certain types of search reports on an application whose priority is claimed, thus exempting applicants in these cases from filing the copy themselves.2
3. The President of the EPO has moreover decided that the EPO also includes a copy of the search results in the file of a European patent application, thus exempting the applicant from filing the copy himself, where the priority of a first filing made in Austria, Denmark, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom or the United States of America is claimed.3
4. By decisions dated 8 April 2021 and 14 May 2021, the President of the EPO has added the Peopleʹs Republic of China and Sweden to the above list of countries.4
5. As a result, applicants will be exempted from filing a copy of the search results under Rule 141(1) EPC if they are claiming the priority of either
- an application on which the EPO drew up a certain type of search report, or
- a first filing made in
- Austria,
- Denmark,
- Japan,
- the Peopleʹs Republic of China,
- the Republic of Korea,
- Spain,
- Sweden,
- Switzerland,
- the United Kingdom or
- the United States of America.
1 See notice from the European Patent Office dated 28 July 2010 concerning amended Rule 141 EPC and new Rule 70b EPC – utilisation scheme, OJ EPO 2010, 410.
2 See decision of the President of the European Patent Office dated 5 October 2010 on the filing of copies of search results under Rule 141(1) EPC – utilisation scheme, OJ EPO 2010, 600.
3 See notice from the European Patent Office dated 4 June 2019 concerning exemption under Rule 141(2) EPC from filing a copy of the search results – utilisation scheme, OJ EPO 2019, A56.
4 See decision of the President of the European Patent Office dated 8 April 2021 exempting applicants claiming the priority of a first filing made in the Peopleʹs Republic of China from filing a copy of the search results under Rule 141(1) EPC – utilisation scheme, OJ EPO 2021, A38; decision of the President of the European Patent Office dated 14 May 2021 exempting applicants claiming the priority of a first filing made in Sweden from filing a copy of the search results under Rule 141(1) EPC – utilisation scheme, OJ EPO 2021, A39.