EPC - general practice, new provisions, EPC.App updates

The update of our EPC.App reference book to legal status of 1st November 2025 is completed. Key changes since the last update in April were Enlarged Board of Appeal decisions G 1/23 about state of the art formed by products put on the market, G 1/24 about interpretation of claims based on the description and G 2/24 about intervention during appeal, a new referral G 1/25 about adaptation of the description, the new case law book as of July 2025, associations of representatives opened for legal practitioners, audio recording of oral proceedings for preparing minutes using AI, electronically filed colour drawings, and London Agreement accession by Montenegro.

In the self-editable online version of our EPC commentary, all changes of the update are rolled-out automatically, while personal user annotations from before the update are retained. They can be exported into a customized printable PDF offline version, which may further be ordered as colored paperback via the integrated print-on-demand service. As always, we also released this 15th edition in English and German with same content.

Although, the text which will eventually be published in the OJ might be different from the advance version, the latter gives a clear indication:

To ensure proper functioning of the EPO and for legal certainty, the President of the EPO has decided that proceedings before the examining and opposition divisions should continue.

This notice applies with immediate effect.

Notice of the EPO dated 7 April 2025 concerning the preparation of the minutes of OP held by ViCo with the assistance of AI will be issued in the next OJ.

A corresponding decision of the president dated 7 April 2025 is as well to be issued in the next OJ.

In May 2025,

The update of our EPC.App reference book to legal status of 1st April 2025 is completed. Key changes since the last update in November were the new EPO Guidelines as of April 2025, amendments to Rules 36, 39 and 160 in accordance with an EU sanction against Russia, changes of terminology in 50 EPC Rules for adoption to gender-neutral language, updated ADA regulations introducing automatic orders for renewal fees only or all fees except these, the abolishment of web form filing and smartcards, new referral G 2/24, and validation of EP patents in Lao PDR.

In the self-editable online version of our EPC commentary, all changes of the update are rolled-out automatically, while personal user annotations from before the update are retained. They can be exported into a customized printable PDF offline version, which may further be ordered as colored paperback via the integrated print-on-demand service. As always, we also released this 14th edition in English and German with same content.

The update of our EPC.App reference book to legal status of 1st November 2024 is completed. Key changes since the last update in April were the UPC ratification of Romania, new referral G 1/24, amended requirements for filing and signing authorisations under Rule 152, entries on the list of representatives via MyEPO Portfolio, abolishment of Fax, legacy Mailbox and Myfiles, and updated ADA regulations.

In the self-editable online version of our EPC commentary, all changes of the update are rolled-out automatically, while personal user annotations from before the update are retained. They can be exported into a customized printable PDF offline version, which may further be ordered as colored paperback via the integrated print-on-demand service. As always, we also released this 13th edition in English and German with same content.