Patent Laws
I would like to know what are the major differences between the US patent laws and the European patent laws. As we deal only with US clients, I am not much aware about the European patent laws. I would like to get some information on the same, specially about the differences.
Answers (6)
There are three major differences:
1. - European patents are granted on the principle of "first to file", not "first to invent";
2. - European patent laws do not know the one year grace period;
3. - Europe does not know and not grant patents for business methods, only for technical inventions.
Hope this helps,
Best regards,
Naoki
Some additional differences:
1) in Europe it is possible to patent a construct (compound) which is already described in the prior art but not as a certain pharmaceutical product/use, while in US this is not possible.
2) Once granted, an European patent can be challanged before the European Patent Office during a nine-months opposition period, starting from the grant date; US patents once granted enjoy a presumption of validity and can be challanged only in a court proceeding or in a riexamination proceeding in the Patent Office. The riexamination proceeding in the Patent Office can be based only on prior art.
Some basic differnce between US and EU patent laws:
1. First to file (EU)/first to invent (US)
2. US has one-year grace period before filling of the patent application but there is no grace period in Europe
3. US requires the best way to practice the invention while EU requires only at least one way of practicing the invention
4. Opposition after grant (EU)/ reexamination (US): Third party is involved in EU while there is only examination in US (between USPTO and the applicant).
Dear Pranjali,
Your question is vague and cannot be answered in this forum. The major differences in US and EP patent laws are too many to list here.
If you can provide further clarification as to for which specific aspect are you trying to compare both the Laws, I can provide you info on it.
Regards,
Aliasgar
Dear Pranjali!
I would like to agree with our friend Ali that you probably need to narrow down your question. You can get a better answer for your query. There are quite many differences in their laws as well as in their practice. On your this question the list of answers could very easily run into pages and pages.
Regards,
Samir
All the previous posts should give you the list of basic differences between EU and US patent laws. I agree with Mr. Dholkawala that space would be insufficient to discuss all the differences in detail. However, I would like to provide you with web-links where you can read articles pertaining to your question. These equip you with information you are looking for.
http://www.iusmentis.com/patents/uspto-epodiff/
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_/ai_n26813504
