Furthermore, references to the description or drawings, particularly in the form of "as described in part ... of the description" or "as illustrated in figure ... of the drawings", are not allowed unless they are absolutely indispensable.
4.2.026 However, in a European patent application containing drawings, reference signs linking the claims to the drawings should be placed in brackets after the technical features mentioned in the claims if this makes the claims easier to understand. Reference signs are not to be construed as limiting the claims.
4.2.027 In exceptional circumstances, a European patent application or patent may include separate sets of claims for specific designated states (see point 4.2.039).
4.2.028 If your European patent application comprises more than 15 claims, you must pay a claims fee in respect of each claim over and above that number. For the 51st and each subsequent claim the amount of the claims fee is higher. You must pay claims fees within one month of filing the first set of claims.
If your application includes several sets of claims (see point 4.2.039), a fee is payable only in respect of each claim beyond the 15th in the set that contains the highest number of claims.
If you fail to pay the fees in due time, you may still validly pay them within a non-extendable period of one month after being notified of your failure to observe the time limit. If you do not pay the fees within this period, the claims for which you have not paid the fees are deemed to be abandoned, and you are notified accordingly (but see point 5.10.007).
4.2.029 If your application contains more than 15 claims at the time of grant, claims fees are payable at this stage if they have not already been paid. If you do not pay them in due time, your application is deemed to be withdrawn (see points 5.4.011, 5.4.014).
4.2.030 The requirements governing the representation of your invention in
the drawings are set out in Rules 46, 48 and 49. Reference signs not mentioned in the description and claims must not be used in the drawings, and vice versa. The same features, when denoted by reference signs, must be denoted by the same signs throughout the application.
4.2.031 Drawings must not contain text matter except, when absolutely indispensable, keywords such as "water", "steam", "open",
sheet diagrams, short catchwords indispensable for understanding. Any such keywords must be placed in such a way that they can be replaced by their translations without interfering with any lines of the drawings.
4.2.032 Flow sheets and diagrams are considered to be drawings.
4.2.033 Good-quality drawings are very important for the correct disclosure of the invention. If the drawings are unreadable, e.g. completely black, you may not be allowed to file better-quality drawings at a later stage, disclosing more details than those originally filed.
Although the EPC has no express provisions for photographs, they are nevertheless allowed. Colour photographs are scanned and made available in the electronic file in black and white.
If you file the application in electronic form, you have the advantage that the original quality of the drawings will be available to the EPO, which in many cases may prevent you from receiving a deficiency communication.
4.2.034 The abstract merely serves for use as technical information. It may not be taken into account for any other purpose, such as interpreting the scope of the protection sought or applying Article 54(3). It must be so drafted that it constitutes an efficient instrument for searching in the particular technical field and for evaluating whether it is worth considering the whole content of the application.
4.2.035 The abstract, which must be preceded by the title of the invention, must contain a concise summary (preferably no more than 150 words long) of the disclosure as contained in the description, claims and drawings. It should indicate the technical field to which the invention relates, unless that is already clear from the title, and should be so drafted as to allow a clear understanding of the
d accompany the published abstract. In this case each main feature mentioned in the abstract and illustrated in the drawing must be followed by the corresponding reference sign in parentheses.
4.2.037 The definitive content of the abstract is determined by the examiner (see point 5.2.013). Once the abstract has been published as part of the European patent application (see point 5.3.001), it is not amended again.
4.2.038 Your application must not contain statements or drawings that are contrary to ordre public or morality. Nor should it contain
disparaging per se. Furthermore, no statements should be made which are obviously irrelevant or unnecessary under the circumstances.
4.2.039 European patent applications and European patents have a unitary character, which means that the text and any drawings are uniform for all designated contracting states.
The exceptions to this principle are as follows:
(a) If the EPO is informed of the existence of a prior right under Article 139(2), the European patent application or patent may, for such state or states, contain different claims and, if the examining division considers it necessary, different descriptions and drawings.
(b) If it is adjudged by a final decision that a third party is entitled to be granted a European patent in respect of only one part of the matter disclosed in the European patent application, the original European patent application must, for the designated states in which the decision was taken or recognised, contain claims, descriptions and drawings which, where necessary, are different from those for the other designated contracting states.
4.2.040 National rights of earlier date do not form part of the state of the art for the purposes of the EPO's examination for patentability (see point 3.3.003, last paragraph).
However, during substantive examination (see point 5.4.019) or opposition proceedings (see point 5.5.005) you may, on your own initiative, submit separate claims for each designated contracting state in which an earlier national right exists, provided that you supply evidence of its existence to the examining or opposition division as appropriate. In such cases the examining or opposition division examines only the admissibility of the separate claims; it does not have to judge whether you have adequately limited the scope of your application in relation to the earlier national right. What it does examine, however, is whether the invention identified in the separate claims meets the patentability requirements of the EPC.
