6. How much time required to get patent in Europe ?

How much time required to get patent in Europe ?

“The time required for drafting and filing a Patent application in European countries is about 15 to 20 days, then you receive a “patent pending” status. The time required for getting a patent grant in European countries is 2-3 years by the normal route, and about 12 months by the Accelerated Examination route called PACE (Programme for Accelerated Prosecution of European Patent Applications)”

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time required to get patent in Europe
time required to get patent in Europe

When you (inventor) ask about the time required to get a patent in Europe for my invention, even if did not specifically mention it, there are 2 intentions behind asking that question and ultimately 2 answers:

  • Time required to file a patent in Europe for your invention
  • Time required to get a granted patent in Europe for your invention

Time required to file a patent in Europe

It takes about 2-3 weeks for a patent attorney to write a patent application and file it. Steps include 

  • novelty search or patent search (time required for patent search is about 1 to 2 weeks)
  • patentability opinion
  • drafting a patent application and (time required for patent drafting is about 2 to 3 weeks )
  • filing a patent application at EPO (once all documents are ready time to file patent application in EPO could be few hours to 1 day)

Time required to get a granted patent in Europe

It takes about 3 year to 5 years to get granted a patent in Europe for your invention. when a non provisional aaplication is filed generally it is reviewed by examiner in about 22 to 24 months (within 2 years) and on an average the time required to get the patent in Europe is about 32 to 40 months.

Steps include :

  • filing patent application at EPO ( 0 month )
  • formal examination search report + written opinion
  • Publication of patent application and search report ( after 18 months from filing)
  • Subtantive Examination (within 24 months)
  • respond
  • Grant of patent (3 to 5 years )
  • National Validation (within 3 months from the grant)

you can read the section on procedure, timeline, and costs for getting a patent in Europe

How to fast track patent in Europe ? speed up the process to grant

European Patent Office (EPO) Accelerated Examination: The EPO offers an accelerated examination procedure called the “PACE (Programme for Accelerated Prosecution of European Patent Applications)” program. Through this route, you can request accelerated examination and aim to receive a granted patent within approximately 12 months from the date of filing the request. The PACE program is available for patent applications that meet certain criteria, such as being of particular economic and technological interest.

To speed up the process of getting patent grant in Europe, there are few approches can be taken : Some approches are paid and direct ways like opting for

  • Track One Prioritized Examination
  • Accelerated Examination
  • Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH)
  • Expedited Examination

on the other hand, some of the indirect ways that can help you get faster grant of patent are :

  1. Being ready with appropriate information about the invention really reduces time from the ideation stage of the invention to filing of the patent, our guideline on how to go from Idea to invention disclosure and to granted patent.
  2. Providing clear and consize invention disclosure specifically mentioning novel and non-obvious part of invention (if possible) will save a lot of time and reduce frequency of communication with Patent practitioner.
  3. drafting the first claim in the meeting with a patent agent or attorney which helps in creating rest of the patent application in quicker time. Saving a lot of emails and meetings for the same outcome.
  4. Review the patent draft (patent application) in quicker time before filing in to EPO
  5. You may also contact patent examiner for status of the patent application (status request)
  6. You may choose to go for First Action Interview Program and talk to the examiner before the examiner issues a first communication; having direct communication with the examiner to help speed up the process and you may get early allowance of an application.
  7. and last but not least, a well drafted patent application with well written claims have better chance to proceed to grant of patent in much lesser time.

Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH)

in this case you can speed up the process of patent grant if you have a granted patent in one of member countries of Global Patent Prosecution Highway, the IP5 PPH pilot programme or has an individual PPH agreement with other patent offices. you can request PPH processing of a later-filed application, you are likely to speed up the process to grant of patent by this way.

Currently, the EPO’s PPH partner offices are: JPO (Japan), KIPO (South Korea), CNIPA (China), USPTO (USA), ILPO (Israel), CIPO (Canada), IMPI (Mexico), IPOS (Singapore), IPA (Australia), SIC (Colombia), ROSPATENT (Russian Federation), MyIPO (Malaysia), IPOPHL (Philippines), EAPO (Eurasia), INPI (Brazil) and INDECOPI (Peru).

Accelerated prosecution of European patent applications (PACE)

You can request PACE processing for your patent application filed at EPO for accelerated search and for accelerated examination. The PACE request for search and PACE request for examination are filed seperately.

The PACE request is filed using EPO Form 1005 and a receipt would be issued by EPO. upon receiving such request EPO tries to issue the search report within 6 months time from the date of filing of PACE request.

When accelerated examination is requested via PACE, the EPO tries to issue the next office action within 3 months of receipt by the examining division of the application. The EPO also tries to produce subsequent examination communications within 3 months of receipt of the applicant’s reply, provided that the application is still being processed under the PACE programme.

Things you can do with “Patent Pending” or patent filed status

Now, When a typical inventor / applicant gets to know that it takes more than 2 years to get granted a patent for his invention, the immediate questions in mind would be;

  • Do I have to wait for 2-3 years to do anything about my invention? Till the patent is granted?
  • How it will make sense in my current business to wait for such long time period ?

The most important fact to consider here is, you get the status of “patent pending” or “patent filed” in Europe as soon as you file the patent application at EPO. This ensures the priority date is secured and now you (inventor) do not need to wait till grant of a patent for most of the activities you wish to do with your invention like:

  • Talking to investors and financers to get funding
  • Researching the financial worth of the invention
  • Finding the right partners for building a business around an invention
  • Advertising and commercializing
  • Practicing the invention for trial purposes with some clients
  • Searching for the right partner to license the patent after grant
  • Or in some cases entirely selling the invention as patent-pending 

However, The only thing you cannot do till you have been granted a patent on your name for the invention is to “stop others from practicing the invention for commercial purpose”!!! In other words, you cannot stop others from using, selling, offering for sale, or importing your invention until and unless you have granted a patent on your name for the invention. For only stopping others you need to wait till the grant of a patent!!!

almost all activities (even selling of the patent in the process) can be done after you have filled the patent application that is your invention is having “patent pending” status. Hence even if it takes more than 2 years to get granted a patent for your invention, It doesn’t stop you from doing almost all activities generally related to a patent as soon as you file the patent !!!

Prasad Karhad
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