European Patent Organisation

European patent law
European Patent
Organisation
European Union
Eurasian Patent
Organization
Centralization
and harmonization
Historical proposals

The European Patent Organisation (sometimes abbreviated EPOrg[1] in order to distinguish it from the European Patent Office, one of the two organs of the organisation[2]) is a public international organisation created in 1977 by its contracting states to grant patents in Europe under the European Patent Convention (EPC) of 1973.[3][4][5] The European Patent Organisation has its seat at Munich, Germany,[6] and has administrative and financial autonomy.[5] The organisation is independent from the European Union, and has as member states all 27 EU member states along with 12 other European states.[7]

The evolution of the Organisation is inherently linked to that of the European Patent Convention. See European Patent Convention (EPC) for the history of the European patent system as set up by the EPC, operated by the European Patent Office (EPO), and supervised by the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation.

  1. ^ "The European Patent Convention - Alphabetical keyword index". www.epo.org. European Patent Office. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  2. ^ Article 4(2)(a) EPC
  3. ^ Gower's Report on Intellectual Property Archived 19 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine, para 1.34
  4. ^ Article 4(3) EPC
  5. ^ a b Article 4(1) EPC
  6. ^ Article 6(1) EPC
  7. ^ R 0001/10 (Offensichtlich unzulässiger Überprüfungsantrag/Ahrweiler), Reasons 2 (Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office 22 February 2011) ("Grund dafür ist, dass das EPÜ nicht Bestandteil der EU-Gesetzgebung ist, sondern mit der europäischen Patentorganisation ein seinem Wesen nach von der Europäischen Union unabhängiges, eigenständiges völkerrechtliches Subjekt begründet, dem zwar allen EU-Mitgliedstaaten, jedoch auch Nicht-EU-Staaten angehören.").