European patent

If you have the ambition to market your innovation abroad it is more than wise to apply for a European patent with the European Patent Office (EPO). EPO has a number of subsidiaries in Europe, including one in Rijswijk, near The Hague in The Netherlands. Via EPO you apply for a patent that can be validated in all countries of the European Union. English is the most common language for a European patent application, but the use of French or German is also allowed.

Application procedure

A European patent application isn't necessarily granted. A patent attorney (examiner) of the EPO judges each application on the basis of an international novelty search. This search is carried out to verify whether the application complies with the requirements of novelty, industrial applicability and inventive step. EPO publishes both the application and the investigation report 18 months after submission. Once granted the European patent protects your invention from the day your application was submitted, the so-called 'priority date'. Thanks to the solid search a European patent offers you a much better protection than a national patent.

All European countries?

A European patent that has been granted isn't automatically valid in all countries of the European Union. Therefore it's necessary to have the patent validated in the countries concerned first. The extra costs of this validation for submission, additional taxes and translations can differ per country, just like the requirements. Therefore we strongly recommend you to make a precise consideration of the risks per country before you decide to validate your patent in all the EU countries.

Call us for more information: +31 30 228 2750.

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To apply for a European patent for your idea please fill out the form on this website and we will contact you.

Together with your specific demands we present your request to our network of European patent attorneys.

The attorney with the most competitive bid writes and submits your application to the European Patent Office.

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News / topical

Thursday 31 March Number of patent applications is still rising

The number of patent applications once again increased. In 2015, 1.6% more applications were filed at the European Patent Office (EPO). In recent years the number of applications actually increased constantly. A small dip in 2009, but this was offset by a very large increase in 2010. In total, they filed in 2015 278,867 patent applications.

Tuesday 6 October Freedom to Operate

The market for new products is growing and growing. This growth makes it extremely difficult to find out if a product you want to import from f.e. China is infringing the patent of a third party. It can be very risky to go-to-market without a proper freedom to operate search.