Amendments to the grant proceedings at the EPO
In addition to the limitations on the filing of divisional applications, the EPO has taken several initiatives intended to streamline the grant procedure. These changes originate from a strategic concept adopted by the Administrative Council and known as "Raising the bar".
Basically, Applicants will be compelled to even more strictly comply with requirements such as unity and claim formulation and they will be constrained to attend substantive deficiencies at earlier stages of the proceedings.
As a general consequence, current filing strategies will need to be re-evaluated from the start, especially as lack of unity and inappropriate claiming will be more penalizing in the future.
For your information, Office Freylinger publishes in its Knowlegde Center a leaflet headed "Changes at the EPO as of 1 April 2010 - Part II: Prosecution", which exposes the makeover of the grant proceedings.
Should you have further questions or concerns in this regard, do not hesitate to contact us.
By Henri Kihn