Amended Rule 141 EPC entering into force on January 01, 2010 introduces a duty to provide results of earlier searches related to the priority document to EPO, when filing an EP application. Recently EPO released a further informa-tion in this matter.
With the notification of December 10th, 2010 EPO exempts applicants claiming the priority of a first filing made in Japan, United Kingdom or the USA from filing a copy of the search results which is in all other cases mandatory under Rule 141 (1) EPC - utilization scheme.
An additional EPO notice highlights the background for this exemption. Japan, United Kingdom and the Patent Office of the USA have agreed to provide EPO in electronic form with the search results covered by Rule 141 EPC.
Please find pdfs of the original EPO notifications below. |
