European Practice For Overseas Attorneys

European patent law differs in some significant aspects from the law in other countries, in particular the United States. This note sets out some important features of European patent law to remember when preparing patent applications for Europe. For more detailed drafting tips, see our information "Drafting Patents for Europe".

Novelty

According to European patent law, an invention is considered new if it has not been made available to the public anywhere in the world before the priority date of the patent application. An invention is "made available to the public" if knowledge of the claimed features of the invention was available to any person who was not under an obligation to keep the invention confidential.