The grant procedure before the European Patent Office (EPO) is an ''
ex parte
In law, ''ex parte'' () is a Latin term meaning literally "from/out of the party/faction of" (name of party/faction, often omitted), thus signifying "on behalf of (name)". An ''ex parte'' decision is one decided by a judge without requiring al ...
'', administrative procedure, which includes the filing of a European
patent application
A patent application is a request pending at a patent office for the grant of a patent for an invention described in the patent specification and a set of one or more claims stated in a formal document, including necessary official forms and rel ...
,
the examination of formalities, the establishment of a
search report
In patent law, a search report is a report established by a patent office, which mentions documents which may be taken into consideration in deciding whether the invention to which a patent application relates is patentable.See for instance The d ...
, the publication of the application, its substantive examination, and the grant of a
patent
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling disclo ...
,
or the refusal of the application,
in accordance with the legal provisions of the
European Patent Convention
The European Patent Convention (EPC), also known as the Convention on the Grant of European Patents of 5 October 1973, is a multilateral treaty instituting the European Patent Organisation and providing an autonomous legal system according to w ...
(EPC). The grant procedure is carried out by the
EPO under the supervision of the
Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation
The Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation is one of the two organs of the European Patent Organisation (EPOrg), the other being the European Patent Office (EPO). The Administrative Council acts as the Organisation's supervisory ...
. The patents granted in accordance with the EPC are called European patents.
In other words, the grant procedure before the EPO is the procedure leading to the grant of a European patent
or to the refusal to grant a European patent.
The procedure starts with the filing of an application
and ends with the grant of a European patent
or the refusal of the patent application
by the EPO, or the withdrawal of the application by the applicant, or its