The path to obtaining a European patent can be viewed as a
multi-stage process. Firstly, at the filing stage, the applicant
must provide the European Patent Office (EPO) with sufficient
information to be awarded a filing date for the application. This
filing date acts as a stake in the ground because the application
will be assessed for novelty and inventive step based on what was
in public domain before this date. As such, it is possible to
publicly disclose the invention from this date onwards without
compromising its patentability.
The second stage is a formalities examination, during which the
filed documents will be examined against a series of formal
requirements. If these requirements are met, the application will
move to the third stage, where the EPO performs a search for prior
art deemed relevant to the patentability of the invention, and the
application is published on the EPO website.
