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ARTICLE · 21 JULY 2015

EPO: Minor Text Changes To Patent Application Need Not Slow Grant Process

Jones Day
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The European Patent Office's ("EPO") quest to increase procedural efficiency has led to a revision of the final steps in the patent grant procedure.

European UnionIntellectual Property
Jones Day
Jones Day
Diana Leguizamón-Morales
Diana Leguizamón-Morales
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The European Patent Office's ("EPO") quest to increase procedural efficiency has led to a revision of the final steps in the patent grant procedure. Now that a communication under Rule 71(3) EPC–Intention to Grant has issued, applicants may waive their right to issuance of a further Intention to Grant after requesting relatively minor amendments to the text intended for grant. Effectively, the revision brings us back to the prior practice before Rule 71 EPC was amended in April 2012, but without the requirement to expressly waive the right for a further Intention to Grant communication.

The new "old" practice will expedite the granting procedure when changes in the application are sought at this stage of the proceedings. As ever, applicants should carefully check the text intended for grant prior to approving it, since after grant, any changes to the patent text are no longer possible.

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