Under , a European patent application must "...relate to one invention only or to a group of inventions so linked as to form a single general inventive concept." This legal provision is the application, within 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 ...

, of the requirement of

unity of invention In most patent laws, unity of invention is a formal administrative requirement that must be met by a patent application to become a granted patent. Basically, a patent application can relate only to one invention or a group of closely related in ...

, which also applies also in other jurisdictions. The lack of unity or non-unity (of invention), can appear either ''a priori'', i.e., before taking into account the

prior art Prior art (also known as state of the art or background art) is a concept in patent law used to determine the patentability of an invention, in particular whether an invention meets the novelty and the inventive step or non-obviousness criteria ...

, or ''a posteriori'', i.e., after taking into account the prior art. An ''a posteriori'' lack of unity usually results from a lack of

novelty Novelty (derived from Latin word ''novus'' for "new") is the quality of being new, or following from that, of being striking, original or unusual. Novelty may be the shared experience of a new cultural phenomenon or the subjective perception of an ...

inventive step The inventive step and non-obviousness reflect a general patentability requirement present in most patent laws, according to which an invention should be sufficiently inventive—i.e., non-obvious—in order to be patented. In other words, " henon ...

of the subject-matter of one independent claim.

Unity amongst a group of inventions

When a European patent application claims a group of inventions, "unity of invention" is considered present if "...there is a technical relationship among those inventions involving one or more of the same or corresponding special technical features."

Search phase

If, when carrying out a search, the search division considers that the application lacks unity (i.e., it doesn't meet the provisions of Article 82), a partial search report is established. The EPO then requires one or more further search fees for the other identified inventions, or groups of inventions, that the search may cover. The former time limit for paying the further search fees was a period the EPO specified as between two weeks and six weeks. Under new Rule 64 EPC, in force as of April 1, 2010,Decision of the Administrative Council of 25 March 2009 amending the Implementing Regulations to the European Patent Convention (CA/D 3/09)
Article 2(1). the time limit for the further search fees is now two months.

Interactions between search and examination phases

Responsibility for establishing whether or not a European patent application meets the requirements of unity of invention ultimately rests with the examining division. Therefore, the findings of the search division—that the application lacks unity—may be contested before the examining division, during the examination phase. If successful, and if further search fees were paid during the search phase, the further search fees may be refunded. If successful, and if further search fees had not been paid during the search phase, "...the applicant is entitled as of right to have the whole subject-matter of his unitary invention searched."

Examination phase

Under the former version of Rule 36 EPC, an objection of lack of unity of invention raised in a communication of the Examining Division could trigger a 24-month period for filing a divisional application, if the particular objection was raised for the first time. However, under the amended version of Rule 36 EPC which came into effect in April 2014, divisional applications can be filed at any time provided that the parent European application is still pending.

References

External links

* * * (European search report where the invention lacks unity) * (Unity of invention during Euro-PCT procedure) * : "Unity of invention" * : Unity of invention {{European Patent Organisation European Patent Organisation