The EPC 2000, which came into effect on 13 December 2007, included an amended " Protocol on the interpretation of " intended to bring about uniformity at a national level between contracting states to the EPC when interpreting claims.

The EPC 2000 or European Patent Convention 2000 is the version of the European Patent Convention ( EPC ) as revised by the Act Revising the Convention on the Grant of European Patents signed in Munich on November 29, 2000.

On June 28, 2001, the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation adopted the final new text of the EPC 2000.

The EPC 2000 entered into force on December 13, 2007.

The EPC 2000 is however a comprehensive revision introducing " a considerable number of smaller amendments ".

A diplomatic conference was held from 20 November to 29 November 2000 in Munich to revise the Convention on the Grant of European Patents of 5 October 1973, amongst other things to integrate in the EPC new developments in international law, especially those of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights ( TRIPs Agreement ) and of the Patent Law Treaty, and to add a level of judicial review of the Boards of Appeal decisions.

Greece deposited its instrument of ratification on December 13, 2005, and was the fifteenth Contracting State to ratify or accede to the EPC 2000.

In addition, since not all the contracting states had deposited their instruments of ratification or accession by September 30, 2007, the EPC 2000 will enter into force on December 13, 2007.

A Contracting State that would not have ratified or acceded to the EPC 2000 at the time of its entry into force, i. e. on December 13, 2007, would have ceased to be party to the EPC as from that time.

In the EPC 2000, this provision, i. e. Article 54 ( 4 ) EPC, has been deleted.

This means in the EPC 2000 that " any European application falling under

This amendment along with the absence of a transitional provision for Rule 23a ( providing that Rule 23a EPC 1973 would continue to apply for pending applications or granted patents at the date of entry into force of the EPC 2000 ) has raised concerns that, " if the provisions of the EPC 2000 are interpreted strictly ", patent rights existing at the date of entry into force of the EPC 2000 may become invalid after the entry into force of the EPC 2000, on December 13, 2007.

The PCA, as mentioned above, does not acknowledge the ordination of women as teaching elders ( pastors ), ruling elders, or deacons ; the EPC considers this issue a " non-essential " matter left to the individual ordaining body.

While the European Patent Convention does not totally overcome the need for translations ( since a translation may be required after grant to validate a patent in a given EPC Contracting State ), it does centralise the prosecution in one language and defers the cost of translations until the time of grant.

The legal system established under the EPC differs from a common law legal system in that " does not treat (...) established jurisprudence as binding.

In the European Patent Convention ( EPC ), " state of the art shall be held to comprise everything made available to the public by means of a written or oral description, by use, or in any other way, before the date of filing of the European patent application " according to.

The structure of the EPC (...) suggests that it should be possible to determine whether subject-matter is excluded under Article 52 ( 2 ) EPC without any knowledge of the state of the art ( including common general knowledge ).

Peter Prescott QC, while sitting as a Deputy Judge in the UK High Court, and in consideration of CFPH's applications noted that the EPO decisions are prescriptive, but not binding on the UK courts, but also recalled the judgement of the Court of Appeal in Fujitsu's application which stated that it would be disastrous if there was any substantial divergence between the interpretations given by the UK courts and the EPO to Article 52 ( 2 ) EPC.

European patents granted by the EPO under the European Patent Convention ( EPC ) may be opposed by any person from the public ( no commercial or other interest whatsoever need be shown ).

That is, the EPC denies that God has any attitude of love or favour to the non-elect in the free offer of the gospel.

However, the ethos of the EPC ( summarized in its motto ) allows a greater degree of freedom in areas deemed to be non-essential to Reformed theology than the other major conservative Presbyterian bodies -- the Presbyterian Church in America, the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church ).

A major strength of EPC is claimed to be its simplicity and easy-to-understand notation.

Within European Union member states, the EPO and other national patent offices have issued many patents for inventions involving software since the European Patent Convention ( EPC ) came into force in the late 1970s.

Under the EPC, and in particular its Article 52, " programs for computers " are not regarded as inventions for the purpose of granting European patents, but this exclusion from patentability only applies to the extent to which a European patent application or European patent relates to a computer program as such.

The words " as such " have caused patent applicants, attorneys, examiners, and judges a great deal of difficulty since the EPC came into force in 1978.

Final interpretation of the law in this area thus continues to be the responsibility of national courts, following national case-law ( except when a European patent application is refused or when a European patent is revoked in opposition proceedings before the EPO, in which case the EPO has the final say regarding the interpretation of the EPC ).

Final interpretation of the law in this area thus continues to be the responsibility of national courts, following national case-law ( except when a European patent application is refused or when a European patent is revoked in opposition proceedings before the EPO, in which case the EPO has the final say regarding the interpretation of the EPC ).

The EPC sets out the circumstances under which an applicant for a European patent must be represented by a professional representative in proceedings before the EPO.

Typically, a representative is required if the patent applicant ( or all of them if more than one ) do not have a place of business in an EPC contracting state.

As a signatory to the European Patent Convention ( EPC ), the UK follows the Protocol on the Interpretation of Article 69 of the EPC, which requires member states to draw a balance between interpreting patent claims with strict literalism ( with the description and drawings only helping resolve ambiguity ) and regarding the claims as a mere guideline only.

Under the EPC 1973, in order to preclude double patenting, the prior art effect of a first European patent application ( a so-called " conflicting patent application ") filed before the filing date of a second European patent application, but published after said filing date, on the second application is limited to the designated states in common.

The deleted Article 54 ( 4 ) EPC remains applicable to the European patents granted before December 13, 2007 and the European patent applications pending on December 13, 2007.

In September 2007, the European Patent Office published a notice indicating that " the provisions currently laid down in Article 54 ( 3 ) and ( 4 ) in conjunction with Rule 23a EPC 1973 will continue to apply to European patent applications filed and patents granted before the entry into force of the EPC 2000 ".

" Under the EPC, there is no principle of binding case law.

For a discussion of the inventive step test for " software patents " and " computer-implemented inventions " under the EPO case law, see also " Inventive step test " section in Software patents under the EPC.

The draft European Patent Litigation Agreement ( EPLA ), or formally the Draft Agreement on the establishment of a European patent litigation system, is a proposed patent law agreement aimed at creating an " optional protocol to the European Patent Convention ( EPC ) which would commit its signatory states to an integrated judicial system, including uniform rules of procedure and a common appeal court ".

The expression restitutio in integrum is also used in patent law, namely in the European Patent Convention ( EPC ), and refers to a means of redress available to an applicant or patentee who has failed to meet a time limit in spite of exercising " all due care required by the circumstances " ().

UK law is in many ways similar to the European Patent Convention ( EPC ) ( although the EPC deals with very few post-grant activities ).

Substantive patent law has been harmonized to a certain extent across national laws in Europe, notably upon signature of the Strasbourg Convention of 1963 and the European Patent Convention ( EPC ) of 1973, and upon entry into force of the TRIPs Agreement.

In some patent law frameworks, however, such as in the European Patent Convention ( EPC ) and its case law, no explicit, accurate definition of who exactly is an inventor is provided.

Also contains a list of primers and FAQs concerning EPC compatibility issues.

In 2008 the EPC apologised to the PCEA Synod for the hurt caused by accusation of schismatic conduct by the PCEA in 1965 concerning the reception of the Penguin ( now Ulverstone ) congregation.