Liliia_A / Shutterstock.com
The ‘joint applicants’ approach to PCT applications would provide an elegant solution to issues of who is entitled to priority claims in PCT applications, suggests Chiara Banas of EIP.
G1/22 and G2/22 are two pending referrals to the Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBA) regarding entitlement to priority. The two questions that were referred were:
- Does the European Patent Convention (EPC) confer jurisdiction on the European Patent Office (EPO) to determine whether a party validly claims to be a successor in title referred to in Article 87(1)(b) EPC?
- If question I is answered in the affirmative:
Can a party B validly rely on the priority right claimed in a PCT-application for the purpose of claiming priority rights under Article 87(1) EPC in the case where
- a PCT-application designates party A as applicant for the US only and party B as applicant for other designated States including regional European patent protection and
- the PCT-application claims priority from an earlier patent application that designates party A as the applicant and
- the priority claimed in the PCT-application is in compliance with Article 4 of the Paris Convention?
Article 87(1) EPC states that:
To continue reading this article and to access our full archive, digital magazines and special reports you will need a subscription.
Start a subscription today to access the LSIPR website
If you have already subscribed please login.
For multi-user price options, or to check if your company has an existing subscription we can add you into, please email Atif at achoudhury@newtonmedia.co.uk
If you have any technical issues please email tech support.
For access to the complete website and archive choose '12 MONTH SUBSCRIPTION'. For a free, two-week trial select ‘TWO WEEK FREE TRIAL’.
Enlarged Board of Appeal, PCT, industrial property, World Trade Organisation, utility model, patent application
