4.1.001 A European patent application may be filed by any natural or legal person, or any body equivalent to a legal person, irrespective of nationality and place of residence or business (but see point 4.1.023).
A European patent application may also be filed by joint applicants or by two or more applicants designating different contracting states; where there are different applicants for different contracting states, they are regarded as joint applicants for the purposes of proceedings before the EPO (see also point 4.1.029).
4.1.002 When filing a European patent application all the contracting states for which the EPC has already entered into force on the date of filing are deemed to be designated (see point 2.2.001 for the list of contracting states).
Switzerland and Liechtenstein may only be designated jointly.
4.1.003 In addition, European patent applications and patents may be extended to a number of states not party to the EPC, these at present being Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro (see point 2.5.001). Montenegro intends to deposit its instrument of accession to the EPC with 1 October 2022 as the date of entry into force. Accordingly, for all applications with a date of filing on or after 1 October 2022, Montenegro will be among the designated contracting states and will no longer be eligible for status as an extension state.
4.1.004 European patent applications and patents can be validated in the countries in which a validation agreement entered into force on or before the date of filing of the European patent application (see point 2.5.001).
References in this Guide to the designation of contracting states also apply to extension to and validation in noncontracting states, unless explicitly stated otherwise.
4.1.005 Even though all the contracting states are deemed to be designated upon filing of the application you must subsequently confirm the designations by paying the appropriate fee, which covers the designation of all contracting states, unless you have expressly withdrawn individual designations.
As regards extension and validation states, all extensions and validations are deemed to be requested upon filing of the application, but you need to confirm the request for extension/validation by paying the extension/validation fee for each state to or in which you wish to extend or validate protection.
4.1.006 The official languages of the EPO are English, French and German.
4.1.007 If you file your European patent application in any other language, you need to file a translation into one of the official languages of the EPO within two months of filing the application. If the translation is not filed in time, you will be invited to file it within two months of the notification of the invitation. If the translation is not filed within the time limit set in the invitation, the application is deemed to be withdrawn.
The language in which you file the European application (or its translation, if not filed in English, French or German) is used as the language of the proceedings, and any amendments made to the application or the European patent must be drawn up in that language. Otherwise, in written proceedings, any party may use any of the EPO's official languages.
At any time during the proceedings before the EPO, the translation may be brought into conformity with the text of the application as filed.
With regard to divisional applications see point 5.8.004.
4.1.008 If you (or one of your co-applicants) have your residence or
principal place of business in a contracting state that has a language other than English, French or German as an official language, or if you (or one of your co-applicants) are a national of such state but are resident abroad, you may file a European patent application and/or the request for examination in one of that state's official languages ("admissible non-EPO language").
4.1.009 If you are thus entitled to file the application or the request for examination in an admissible non-EPO language and do so, a 30% reduction of the filing and/or examination fee applies if you, as an applicant, are a natural person, a small or medium-sized enterprise, a non-profit organisation, a university or a public research organisation. In order to benefit from the reduction, you must submit a declaration of entitlement at the latest by the time of payment of the (reduced) filing or examination fee. The declaration can be made directly in the request for grant of a European patent (EPO Form 1001; see point 4.1.013) or by filing EPO Form 1011, available on the EPO website (epo.org).
If you have co-applicants, each one of them must also be either a natural person or an entity according to the above definition and must declare so if you wish to benefit from the 30% reduction of the filing and/or examination fee.
4.1.010 If point 4.1.008 applies to you, at any time in the procedure after filing your application you may file any documents subject to a time limit in an official language of your state; but within one month of filing any such document you must submit a translation into the language of the proceedings.
4.1.011 However, if you use the official language of your state for filing an opposition, appeal or petition for review, you can file the translation into one of the official languages of the EPO within the opposition, appeal or petition for review period respectively, if that period expires after the one-month period mentioned in point 4.1.010. If you do not file the translation in due time, the document is deemed not to have been filed.
The fee reduction mentioned in point 4.1.009 does not apply to the fees for opposition, appeal (but see point 5.7.003), petition for review, limitation and revocation.
4.1.012 A European patent application consists of a request for the grant of a European patent, a description of the invention, one or more claims, any drawings referred to in the description or claims, and an abstract.
4.1.013 The request must be filed on a form prescribed by the EPO (EPO Form 1001). The request for grant form is integrated in the electronic filing tools EPO Online Filing and Online Filing 2.0.
The form, which can also be submitted using the EPO Web-Form Filing service, and the associated explanatory notes can be downloaded free of charge from the EPO website (epo.org). You are strongly advised to read the explanatory notes carefully before completing the request form. By completing the form you meet all the mandatory requirements governing the information that the request for grant must contain.
The request must be duly signed. It may be signed by your representative if you have appointed one. Where it is signed on behalf of a legal person, the signatory's position within the legal entity must also be indicated. If you have co-applicants and do not appoint a European representative, the request for grant must be signed by all of the applicants (see point 4.1.029).
If you file on paper, one copy of the request itself must be filed; the receipt for documents (page 9 of the request for grant form) must be filed in triplicate, or in quadruplicate if filed with a national authority (see point 4.3.003). If the application is filed electronically, no additional copies are necessary.
