opean search report, and it draws your attention to the period for filing the request for examination (paying the fee for examination), which begins on that date (see points 5.2.011 and 5.4.001). It also informs you that the designation fee must be paid within six months of the date on which the European Patent Bulletin mentions publication of the European search report and that the same period applies to the payment of any extension and validation fees.
5.3.005 For the provisional protection that the application confers after publication see the fourth paragraph of point 2.2.001.
A contracting state not having the language of the proceedings as an official language may prescribe that provisional protection does not take effect until a translation of the claims into one of its official languages at your option or, where that state has prescribed the use of one specific official language, in that language:
(a) has been made available to the public in the manner prescribed by national law, or
(b) has been communicated to the person using the invention in that state.
The contracting states may make provisional protection conditional upon a translation of the claims. The same applies to the extension and validation states (see point 2.5.001). For more information you are referred to National law relating to the EPC (Table III).
5.3.006 Once the European patent application has been published, files relating to it are available for public inspection by way of the
European Patent Register, which can be accessed via the EPO website (epo.org).
From that time, too, the public has access to the application's bibliographic data and to information about the state of the proceedings by means of the European Patent Register, which can be accessed via the EPO website (see Annex VI).
The European Patent Register also allows you to monitor patent applications for updates using the Register Alert Service.
Additional information about the form in which European patent applications and patents are published and about periodical EPO publications is given in Annex VI.
5.4.001 You need to file the request for examination within six months of the date on which the European Patent Bulletin mentions the publication of the European search report (see point 5.3.004). The request, which you must submit in writing, is contained in the
request for grant form (see point 4.1.013), but it is not deemed to be filed until you have paid the examination fee. Once filed, it cannot be withdrawn.
If you do not validly file the request for examination within the time limit, the application is deemed to be withdrawn. However, the opportunity to request further processing is available (see point 5.10.007).
5.4.002 You also have the option of paying the examination fee when you file the application. No disadvantages can accrue from this, as the examination fee is refunded in full if the application is withdrawn, refused or deemed to be withdrawn before substantive examination has begun. The examination fee is refunded at a rate of 50% if the application is withdrawn after substantive examination has begun but before expiry of the time limit for replying to the first communication from the examining division (see point 4.3.020).
5.4.003 If you validly file the request for examination before receiving the European search report, pursuant to Rule 70(2) the Receiving Section invites you to indicate, within six months of the date when the European Patent Bulletin mentions the publication of the search report, whether you wish to proceed further with the application. If you do not reply to this invitation in due time, the application is deemed to be withdrawn.
In this case, too, further processing is available (see point 5.10.007).
5.4.004 To speed up proceedings, you can also, for example in the request for grant form, simply waive your right to the invitation to confirm the request for examination. In that case, when you receive the search report you are deemed to have indicated that you wish to proceed further with the application, and the examining division then assumes responsibility for the procedure (see point 5.2.009).
With a request for accelerated examination under the programme for accelerated prosecution of European patent applications ("PACE") you can speed up the proceedings at the examination stage.
5.4.005 You will be invited to comment on the extended European search report and/or to correct any deficiencies noted in the opinion accompanying it, and to amend the description, claims and drawings as appropriate, within the same six-month time limit as applies to filing or confirming the request for examination. If you fail to comply with the invitation in due time, the application will be deemed withdrawn (for further processing, see point 5.10.007).
However, if no objections were raised in the opinion accompanying the European search report, no invitation will be issued. Instead, you will be informed about the possibility of filing comments or making amendments within the same period (see point 5.4.018).
After receiving the search report and before receiving the examiner's first communication, you must file substantive observations on any objections raised in the search opinion; you may also amend the description, claims and drawings (see points 5.4.005 and 5.4.018).
In exceptional situations where despite your reply to the search opinion no possibility of a grant can be envisaged, the examining division may issue a summons to oral proceedings as the first action in examination, with at least six months' notice. You may take the opportunity to submit any arguments and amendments by expiry of the deadline set with the summons. Should your submissions contain a genuine effort to overcome the examining division's objections, oral proceedings may be cancelled or postponed. Otherwise, a decision will be taken during the oral proceedings, even if you do not attend them.
5.4.007 If the examiner responsible within the examining division has objections to the application, they will send you a first reasoned communication inviting you to file your observations and, if necessary, to submit amendments to the description, claims and drawings (see points 5.4.017-5.4.022).
If you fail to reply in due time to this or any further communication,
the application is deemed to be withdrawn (but see point 5.10.007).
You might also be invited to provide information on prior art taken into consideration in the examination of national or regional patent applications and concerning an invention to which the European patent application relates. If you do not provide this information within a specified time limit, the application is deemed withdrawn (but see point 5.10.007). It is recommended that you file any search results relating to a previous application from which priority is claimed as soon as they are available (see point 4.1.019).
5.4.008 You must try to deal with all the examiner's objections, the guiding principle of the examination procedure being that the decision to grant a patent or refuse the application should be reached in as few actions as possible.
If, after examining your response, the examiner considers that a patent cannot yet be granted, they will continue with the examination procedure by issuing a further written communication or consulting you by videoconference or, exceptionally, by telephone.
