priority-Archiv - meier ip

Color drawings and WIPO DAS

Florian Meier — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 10:01:20 +0000

As of 1 October 2025, the EPO permits the electronic filing and processing of drawings in color and grayscale. This change, set out in the Decision of the President (OJ EPO 2025, A49) and the accompanying Notice (OJ EPO 2025, A57), represents a departure from the long‑standing requirement that drawings be submitted exclusively in black and white line form. The new framework provides applicants with greater flexibility in the preparation of visual disclosures, particularly in areas where colour conveys technical information that cannot readily be expressed through conventional monochrome illustrations.

The EPO processes the color drawings throughout the Office’s internal workflows. This includes their extraction and preparation for deposit with the WIPO Digital Access Service. Practitioners should be aware, however, that downstream Offices may apply their own technical constraints when retrieving documents via WIPO DAS. Where an accessing Office does not yet support the processing of colour drawings, it may convert such documents to black and white as part of its intake procedure.

Applicants relying on color to convey essential technical content are therefore advised to consider whether jurisdictions of interest can accommodate such material without loss of information.

Der Beitrag Color drawings and WIPO DAS erschien zuerst auf meier ip.

GPTO and WIPO DAS

Florian Meier — Wed, 14 May 2025 04:49:34 +0000

The participation of the German Patent and Trademark Office (GPTO) as a depositing office in the WIPO Digital Access Service (DAS) offers significant advantages for patent applicants. While the GPTO requires that a dedicated request be filed for entering a document into WIPO DAS, the GPTO allows for the deposit of priority documents even when the priority term has (long) expired and for documents that pre-date the GPTO’s designation as a depositing office. This flexibility is particularly beneficial when applicants require access to priority documents after the expiration of the priority term, such as during the filing of a bypass continuation in the U.S.

Der Beitrag GPTO and WIPO DAS erschien zuerst auf meier ip.

Search report for patent application deemed to be withdrawn

Florian Meier — Sun, 24 Mar 2024 15:47:40 +0000

In a recent decision 1 W(pat) 11/23, the German Federal Patent Court held that the German Patent and Trademark Office (GPTO) has to establish a search report for a patent application that is deemed to be withdrawn, provided that applicant sets forth a legitimate interest in obtaining the search results. The decision orders the GPTO to establish the search report prior to expiry of the priority term.

This decision both reflects the importance of the official search results for applicants and corroborates the importance of the official search results to be established in due time.

By way of background, a German national patent application is deemed withdrawn (as in the decided case) inter alia when it serves as basis for a priority claim of (a) a further national German patent application or (b) a PCT application filed via the GPTO as Receiving Office without exempting the designation of Germany. Still, applicant can (and often does) have a legitimate interest in a timely search report even in cases in which a convention application was already filed. For illustration, it may be prudent in many cases for applicant to modify the claims and/or the overall disclosure of a (still further) convention application, taking into account the search results.

Der Beitrag Search report for patent application deemed to be withdrawn erschien zuerst auf meier ip.

Enlarged Board of Appeal on transfer of priority right

Florian Meier — Fri, 13 Oct 2023 06:28:31 +0000

The recent decisionby the Enlarged Board of Appeal G1/22 and G2/22 has made it easier to demonstrate a valid transfer of priority right. This is good news for patent applicants and patentees who may have struggled with the previous requirements for demonstrating a valid transfer. According to the EPO’s summary of the key considerations, “entitlement to priority is presumed to exist if the formal requirements for claiming priority are fulfilled. This presumption is justified because (i) all parties involved normally have an interest that an application may benefit from a priority right, (ii) there are no formal requirements for the transfer of priority rights, and (iii) the applicant of the priority application has to provide support to the applicant claiming priority (e.g. by providing unpublished documents).”

However, it is important to note that the time of transfer must still pre-date the subsequent filing. This means that while the process of demonstrating a valid transfer may be easier, the timing of the transfer is still crucial. More details can be found in the many comments that were already published on these decisions. See, e.g., the DeltaPatents Blog on decisions G1/22 and G2/22.

Der Beitrag Enlarged Board of Appeal on transfer of priority right erschien zuerst auf meier ip.

EPO T 1946/21 – transfer of priority right

Florian Meier — Sat, 09 Sep 2023 05:52:03 +0000

In the recent Board of Appeal decision T 1946/21, Board of Appeal 3.2.03 held that it is sufficient for a transfer of the priority right to be effected on the filing date of the subsequent application, provided that applicant/patentee can demonstrate that the transfer had been effected at the time at which the subsequent application was filed. The Board did not follow appellant’s argument that the transfer had to be effected at the latest on the day preceding the day on which the subsequent application was filed.

Beware that (i) the EPO Guidelines (section A.III.6 in GL version 2023) include language (“the transfer of the application including the priority right (or of the priority right as such) must have taken place before the filing date”) that suggests that stricter criteria may apply, and (ii) national case law of EPC member states (such as BPatG 11 W (pat) 14/09, point II.B.2 a cited in T 1946/21) may require the transfer to have taken place at the latest on the day preceding the filing date.

Thus, if time allows, it is prudent to mitigate potential issues relating to the validity of the priority claim in Europe by (a) effecting a transfer of the priority right to the applicant of the subsequent application at least on the day before the filing date, or (b) filing the subsequent application with the applicant of the priority application being named at least as a co-applicant in the subsequent application.

T 1946/21 also includes interesting passages relating to partial priority issues in light of G 1/15.

Der Beitrag EPO T 1946/21 – transfer of priority right erschien zuerst auf meier ip.