With its "National law relating to the EPC" booklet, the European Patent Office aims to provide European patent applicants and proprietors, and all others concerned with the European patent system, with a concise guide to the most important provisions and requirements of the relevant national law in the EPC contracting states.

Content description

The booklet is essentially a "guide to the legislation of the EPC contracting states on European patents" and thus supplements the guide for applicants - "How to get a European patent". The synopses given in its tables have been prepared in close collaboration with the IP authorities of the contracting states.

The tables have been drawn up with great care, but their completeness and accuracy cannot be guaranteed. They are very concise, focusing on the essentials, and are therefore no substitute for consulting the national legal sources themselves and seeking professional advice where appropriate. National patent law and practice are not static; they are changing and developing all the time. Users of the booklet may therefore wish to consult the official publications of the contracting states to make sure that the legal provisions summarised in the tables - and especially the fee amounts given - are still up to date. The EPO will continue to provide regular updates in its Official Journal about legal developments in the contracting states. It also updates the online version of this booklet whenever it learns of any changes at national level.

Available formats & amendments

The most up-to-date version of the "National law relating to the EPC" publication is thus the HTML file, which is optimised for online use.

The PDF file (900 KB) contains the latest printed edition (16th, published in September 2013). This is the best version for off-line browsing, including full-text search functionality. You can also order your own hard-copy version below.

An updated list of current bank accounts of national patent offices (for paying EP-related renewal and other fees) has been extracted from Part VIII of the booklet and is available as a PDF file.

Order

The "National law relating to the EPC" booklet (16th edition, September 2013) is available in hard copy in English, French and German, using this order form.