4.3.001 You can file European patent applications in electronic form using the EPO Online Filing software, which can be obtained from the
may be made online or on electronic data carriers admitted by the EPO.
Alternatively, you may use the web-based Online Filing 2.0 or the EPO Web-Form Filing service, which are also provided free of charge via the EPO website (epo.org). Links to the online filing services are given in Annex III.
If you use Online Filing, you can also file European patent applications in electronic form with the competent national authorities of the contracting states which so permit. Divisional applications must, however, be filed with the EPO direct.
4.3.002 The EPO's electronic filing services have a number of advantages. They offer a secure, reliable and efficient way of filing applications with the EPO. They enable fully electronic handling of filings, save you time and paper-handling costs and provide you with an instant acknowledgement of receipt. A further benefit of electronic filing is that the original quality of the documents is maintained. In addition, for applications filed in electronic form with either the EPO or a competent national authority, the filing fee is reduced.
A new online service named MyEPO Portfolio has recently been launched. As a secure, web-based online service for parties to proceedings before the EPO, it allows users to view their application portfolios, consult documents in the digital file, receive EPO Mailbox communications and perform procedural acts in response to communications from the EPO. The range of procedural acts which can be submitted will be expanded progressively. An EPO smart card is needed to access MyEPO
Portfolio.
In the event of the unavailability of, or a general breakdown in, any of the means of electronic communication permitted by the President of the EPO, the general safeguards under the EPC apply.
On the EPO website you will find more information regarding the other online services provided by the EPO, including Central Fee Payment, MyFiles and the Mailbox service.
4.3.003 You can also file European patent applications in person, by postal services or by fax
(a) with the EPO in Munich, its branch at The Hague or its sub-office in Berlin, but not at its sub-offices in Vienna and Brussels
(b) with the central industrial property office or other competent authority of a contracting state if the law of that state so permits or prescribes (with the exception of divisional applications)
If you decide not to file online, the EPO's addresses and fax numbers are given in Annex III. The addresses and fax numbers
European patent applications with such authorities are given in National law relating to the EPC (see point 2.1.004).
4.3.004 You cannot file European patent applications with the EPO by email or by any means other than those described above.
4.3.005 If you file on paper by post or especially by fax, the quality of the documents may be reduced. As the EPO uses an optical character recognition system to capture European patent applications for printing, you are urged to use a machine-readable typeface for your applications (see point 4.2.005).
4.3.006 No confirmation on paper is needed if you file your application
electronically. If you file by fax and the fax is received in poor quality, the EPO may invite you to file replacement documents of better quality.
4.3.007 The date of filing accorded to applications filed in electronic form (using the EPO Online Filing software, EPO Online Filing 2.0 or the EPO Web-Form Filing service) or sent by post or fax is the date on which the application documents are received at the EPO, provided the documents comply with the requirements of Article 80 and Rule 40 (see point 5.2.001).
Where applications are filed in person at the EPO, the corresponding date is the date on which they are handed in or posted in one of the EPO's automated mailboxes, which are available in Munich (PschorrHöfe building only, Zollstrasse) and Berlin.
The above rules similarly apply to applications filed with the competent national authorities of the contracting states.
4.3.008 Receipt of documents filed online using the EPO Online Filing software is acknowledged electronically during the submission session. If you file on electronic data carriers admitted by the EPO, receipt is acknowledged by post.
acknowledgment of receipt on the website once the files have been transferred. You can also request to have acknowledgement of receipt sent to you by email.
If you file your application on paper, the authority with which you file it acknowledges receipt without delay by sending you page 9 of the request for grant, on which it notes the date it received the application documents and the number of the application.
4.3.009 When you file a European patent application on paper with a national authority, the national authority issues the receipt for documents (page 9 of the request for grant). After checking the application for security or for other national requirements, it then forwards it to the EPO. The EPO then notifies you accordingly,
European patent applications electronically with any of the national authorities that so permit. If you do not receive this acknowledgement, please contact the national authority.
If the national authority withholds your European application on account of the above-mentioned national requirements, you may pursue it as a national application.
4.3.010 In the very rare event that your application fails to reach the EPO before the end of the fourteenth month after filing or after the earliest priority date, it is deemed to be withdrawn, and any fees that you have paid are refunded. The EPO notifies you accordingly, and you can then convert your European patent application into a national application.
You must file the request for conversion with the central industrial property office of the contracting state in which you filed the application, and you must do so within three months after receiving notification from the EPO. For more details see National law relating to the EPC (see point 2.1.004).
