Filing a Patent Application in Europe or Germany or a Utility Model in Germany

In this section information about foreign filings of patent applications in Europe and Germany and about regional and national phases in Europe and Germany of an international patent application is provided.

Detailed information about entry into regional stage in Europe and national stage in Germany or filings in Europe and Germany can be provided upon request. The following links provide information about the most important requirements.

Foreign filing of European Patent Application

A European patent application has to be filed in English, French or German, apart from exceptions. It is possible to file a European patent application by simply referring to another application (first filing), wherein within two months the documents of the first filing have to be provided and a translation into English, French or German has to be filed if the first filing has another language.

Upon filing a European patent application the compulsory filing fee and search fee have to be paid. The examination fee can be paid up to six months after publication.

There is a high (prohibitive) claim fee for the 16th and each following claim. Since 1 April 2010 the EPO only searches - apart from exceptions - one independent claim per category (product, process).

Re-establishment of priority is possible.