On the strategy of patent entering European countries through the Paris Convention

As the largest economy in the world, Europe has always been an important export market for enterprises from all over the world. For science and technology enterprises, patents are undoubtedly a powerful weapon for market competition. In recent years, with the implementation of China's intellectual property strategy outline and more and more Chinese technology companies want to occupy a place in the European market, Chinese companies have also begun to carry out patent layout in Europe.

In order to facilitate the understanding and effective application of some regulations in the European patent application process by Chinese applicants, the following small series discusses some strategies in the European patent application process, hoping to help Chinese applicants in handling patent applications to Europe.

Generally, for European patent applications, Chinese applicants can file through the following two channels:

1) The Paris Convention route, I .e. a European patent application filed with the EPO under the Paris Convention for the priority of the first earlier application within the 12-month priority period, which will take effect in each of the contracting states chosen by the applicant after authorization;

2)PCT route, that is, the PCT international application is submitted first, and then it enters the European regional phase (Euro-PCT) within 31 months from the date of application (priority refers to the priority date). After authorization, it will take effect in each Contracting State selected by the applicant.

Next, the small editor discusses the application strategy for entering the European regional stage through the Paris Convention route.

The "Paris Convention" does not have a special patent application procedure. Applicants still need to apply separately in the country where they wish to apply for a patent. However, an external application through the "Paris Convention" has a very big advantage, that is, "priority".

Priority: if a patent applicant applies for a patent for an invention-creation in a certain country for the first time and then applies for a patent for an invention-creation with the same subject within the statutory time limit, according to the relevant laws and regulations, the date of the first patent application shall be taken as the date of application for the subsequent application, and the right enjoyed by the patent applicant according to law is the right of priority.

Access to Europe through the Paris Convention can be divided into two forms:

1) The traditional Paris Convention approach (priority application, application by national patent offices, grant of patents)

2) EPC route (priority application, application for European patent to EPO, grant of European patent to enter the designated country)

The traditional approach to the Paris Convention

According to the provisions of the Paris Convention, if an invention wants to be patented in multiple countries, the applicant can submit an application to the patent offices of multiple countries within 6 months or 12 months from the priority date. However, in this way, it is necessary to submit application procedures to each country that wants to apply, and make application documents that meet the requirements of each country. In this process, it is necessary to prepare patent application documents in multiple languages, and it needs to be disclosed and reviewed many times. The applicant will spend more time, energy and cost.

The cost part takes Germany as an example: the application fee is 60EUR, the actual examination fee is 350EUR, and the annual fee for 1-3 years is 300EUR.

EPC pathway

EPC is the abbreviation of the European Patent Convention (European Patent Convention), signed in Munich, Germany on October 5, 1973, also referred to as the Munich Convention. A patent is granted by filing a single patent application with the EPO and is valid in the 38 Contracting States of the EPC.

When the patentee applies for a patent to the EPO, he specifies which countries he will enter after authorization. During the whole process, he only needs to submit a patent application document to the EPO, and after obtaining authorization, he can pay the national designation fee. When more than seven countries are designated, the designation fee of the seven countries shall be paid.

The specific fees are: application fee 120EUR, examination fee 1,635EUR, designated country 585EUR, and annual fee 470EUR for the third year.

Therefore, on the whole, if there are only one or two countries that want to apply for patents in Europe, it is more appropriate to follow the traditional Paris Convention, the process will not be very complicated, and the cost will be lower. However, when applying for patents in 3 or more European countries, EPC not only has an advantage in the simplicity of the application process, but also more affordable in terms of cost.