sou · GRB366d2 · 2004-01-01 00:00:00 — (e)where appropriate, and for tangible assets only, by third-party borrowings secured on land or ; (f)where appropriate, by third-party funding for specific projects. 's own resources 's own resources shall comprise: (a)all income from fees and other sources and also the reserves of the Organisation; (b)the resources of the , which shall be treated as a special class of asset of the Organisation, designed to support the Organisation's pension scheme by providing the appropriate reserves. Payments by the Contracting States in respect of renewal fees for European patents (1)Each pay to the Organisation in respect of each renewal fee received for a European patent in that State an amount equal to a proportion of that fee, to be fixed by the ; the proportion shall not exceed and shall be the same for all Contracting States. However, if the said proportion corresponds to an amount which is less than a uniform minimum amount fixed by the , the pay that minimum to the Organisation. (2)Each communicate to the Organisation such information as the Administrative Council considers to be necessary to determine the amount of these payments. (3)The due dates for these payments shall be determined by the . (4)If a payment is not remitted fully by the due date, the pay interest from the due date on the amount remaining unpaid. Level of fees and payments – Special financial contributions (1)The amounts of the fees referred to in Article 38 and the proportion referred to in Article 39 shall be fixed at such a level as to ensure that the revenue in respect thereof is sufficient for the budget of the Organisation to be balanced. (2)However, if the Organisation is unable to balance its budget under the conditions laid down in paragraph 1, the Contracting States shall remit to the Organisation special financial contributions, the amount of which shall be determined by period in question. (3)These special financial contributions shall be determined in respect of any on the basis of the number of patent applications filed in the last year but one prior to that of entry into force of this Convention, and calculated in the following : (a)one half in proportion to the number of patent applications filed in that Contracting State; (b)one half in proportion to the second highest number of patent applications filed in the other Contracting States by natural or legal persons having their or principal place of business in that . However, the amounts to be contributed by States in which the number of patent applications filed exceeds 25 000 shall then be taken as a whole and a new scale drawn up in proportion to the total number of patent applications filed in these States. (4)Where the scale position of any cannot be established in accordance with paragraph 3, the shall, with the consent of that State, decide its scale position. (5)Article 39, paragraphs 3 and 4, shall apply mutatis mutandis to the special financial contributions. (6)The special financial contributions shall be repaid with interest at a rate which shall be the same for all Contracting States. Repayments shall be made in so far as it is possible to provide for this purpose in the budget; the amount thus provided shall be distributed among the Contracting States in accordance with the scale referred to in paragraphs 3 and 4. (7)The special financial contributions remitted in any accounting period shall be repaid in full before any such contributions or parts thereof remitted in any subsequent accounting period are repaid. (1)At the request of the President of Patent Office, the Contracting States shall grant advances to the Organisation, on account of their payments and contributions, within the limit of the amount fixed by the . The amount of such advances shall be determined in proportion to the amounts due from the Contracting States for the accounting period in question. (2)Article 39, paragraphs 3 and 4, shall apply mutatis mutandis to the advances. (1)The budget of the Organisation shall be balanced. It shall be drawn up in accordance with the generally accepted accounting principles laid down in the Financial Regulations. If necessary, there may be amending or supplementary budgets. (2)The budget shall be drawn up in the unit of account fixed in the Financial Regulations. (1)The expenditure entered in the budget shall be authorised for the duration of one accounting period, unless the Financial Regulations provide otherwise. (2)In accordance with the Financial Regulations, any appropriations, other than those relating to staff costs, which are unexpended at the end of the accounting period may be carried forward, but not beyond the end of the following accounting period. (3) Appropriations shall be set out under different headings according to type and purpose of the expenditure and subdivided, as far as necessary, in accordance with the Financial Regulations. Appropriations for unforeseeable expenditure (1)The budget of the Organisation may contain appropriations for unforeseeable expenditure. (2)The employment of these appropriations by the Organisation shall be subject to the prior approval of the expenditure . The accounting period shall commence on 1 January and end on . Preparation and adoption of the budget (1)The President of Patent Office shall submit the draft budget to the no later than the date prescribed in the Financial Regulations. (2)The budget and any amending or supplementary budget shall be adopted by the . (1)If, at the beginning of the accounting period, the budget has not been adopted by the , expenditures may be effected on a monthly basis per heading or other division of the budget, in accordance with the Financial Regulations, up to one- twelfth of the budget appropriations for the preceding accounting period, provided that the appropriations thus made available to the President of Patent Office shall not exceed one-twelfth of those provided for in the draft budget. (2)may, subject to the observance of the other provisions laid down in paragraph 1, authorise expenditure in excess of one- twelfth of the appropriations. (3)The payments referred to in Article 37(b), shall continue to be made, on a provisional basis, under the conditions determined under Article 39 for the year preceding that to which the draft budget relates. (4) The Contracting States shall pay each month, on a provisional basis and in accordance with the scale referred to in Article 40, paragraphs 3 and 4, any special financial contributions necessary to ensure implementation of paragraphs 1 and 2. Article 39, paragraph 4, shall apply mutatis mutandis to these contributions. (1)The President of Patent Office shall implement the budget and any amending or supplementary budget on his own responsibility and within the limits of the allocated appropriations. (2)Within the budget, the President of Patent Office may, in accordance with the Financial Regulations, transfer funds between the various headings or sub-headings. (1)The income and expenditure account and a balance sheet of the Organisation shall be examined by auditors whose independence is beyond doubt, appointed by period of five years, which shall be renewable or extensible. (2)The audit shall be based on vouchers and shall take place, if necessary, in situ. The audit shall ascertain whether all income has been received and all expenditure effected in a lawful and proper and whether the financial management is sound. The auditors shall draw up a report containing a signed audit opinion after the end of each accounting period. (3)The President of Patent Office shall annually submit to the the accounts of the preceding accounting period in respect of the budget and the balance sheet showing the assets and liabilities of the Organisation together with the report of the auditors. (4)shall approve the annual accounts together with the report of the auditors and shall discharge the President of Patent Office in respect of the implementation of the budget. The Financial Regulations shall lay down (a)the arrangements relating to the and implementation of the budget and for the rendering and auditing of accounts; (b)the method and procedure whereby the payments and contributions provided for in Article 37 and the advances provided for in Article 41 are to be made available to the Organisation by the Contracting States; in particular: (c)the rules concerning the responsibilities of authorising and accounting officers and the arrangements for their supervision; (d)the rates of interest provided for in Articles 39, 40 and 47; (e)the method of calculating the contributions payable by virtue of Article146; (f)the composition of and duties to be assigned to a Budget and which should be set up by the ; (g)the generally accepted accounting principles on which the budget and the annual financial statements shall be based. (1)Patent Office may levy fees for any official task or procedure carried out under this Convention. (2)Time limits for the payment of fees other than those fixed by this Convention shall be laid down in the Implementing Regulations. (3)Where the Implementing Regulations provide that a fee shall be paid, they shall also lay down the legal consequences of failure to pay such fee in due time. (4)The Rules relating to Fees shall determine in particular the amounts of the fees and the ways in which they are to be paid. (1)European patents shall be granted for any inventions, in all fields of technology, provided that they are new, involve an inventive step and are susceptible of industrial application. (2)The following in particular shall not be regarded as inventions within the meaning of paragraph 1: (a) discoveries, scientific theories and mathematical methods; (b)aesthetic creations; (c)schemes, rules and methods for performing mental acts, playing games or doing business, and programs for computers; (d)presentations of information. (3) Paragraph 2 shall exclude the patentability of the subject-matter or activities referred to therein only to the extent to which a European patent application or European patent relates to such subject-matter or activities as such. European patents shall not be granted in respect of: (a)inventions the commercial exploitation of which would be contrary to ordre public or morality; such exploitation shall not be deemed to be so contrary merely because it is prohibited by law or regulation in some or all of the Contracting States; (b)plant or animal varieties or essentially biological processes for the production of plants or animals; this provision shall not apply to microbiological processes or the products thereof; (c)methods for treatment of the human or animal body by surgery or therapy and diagnostic methods practised on the human or animal body; this provision shall not apply to products, in particular substances or compositions, for use in any of these methods. (1)An invention shall be considered to be new if it does not form part of the state of the art. (2)The 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 patent application. (3)Additionally, the content of European patent applications as filed, the dates of filing of which are prior to the date referred to in paragraph 2 and which were published on or after that date, shall be considered as comprised in the state of the art. (4)Paragraphs 2 and 3 shall not exclude the patentability of any substance or composition, comprised in the state of the art, for use in a method referred to in Article 53(c), provided that its use for any such method is not comprised in the state of the art. (5)Paragraphs 2 and 3 shall also not exclude the patentability of any substance or composition referred to in paragraph 4 for any specific use in a method referred to in Article 53(c), provided that such use is not comprised in the state of the art. (1) For the application of Article 54, a disclosure of the invention shall not be taken into consideration if it occurred no earlier than six months preceding the filing of patent application and if it was due to, or in consequence of: (a) an evident abuse in relation to the applicant or his legal predecessor, or (b) the fact that the applicant or his legal predecessor has displayed the invention at an official, or officially recognised, international exhibition falling within the terms of the Convention on international exhibitions signed at on and last revised on . (2) In the case of paragraph 1(b), paragraph 1 shall apply only if the applicant states, when filing patent application, that the invention has been so displayed and files a supporting certificate within the time limit and under the conditions laid down in the Implementing Regulations. An invention shall be considered as involving an inventive step if, having regard to the state of the art, it is not obvious to a person skilled in the art. If the state of the art also includes documents within the meaning of Article 54, paragraph 3, these documents shall not be considered in deciding whether there has been an inventive step. An invention shall be considered as susceptible of industrial application if it can be made or used in any kind of industry, including agriculture. Persons entitled to apply for and obtain a European patent – Mention of the inventor Entitlement to file a European patent application A European patent application may be filed by any natural or legal person, or any body equivalent to a legal person by virtue of the law governing it. A European patent application may also be filed either by joint applicants or by two or more applicants designating different Contracting States. to a European patent (1)The right to a European patent shall belong to the inventor or his successor in title. If the inventor is an employee the right to a European patent shall be determined in accordance with the law of the State in which the employee is mainly employed; if the State in which the employee is mainly employed cannot be determined, the law to be applied shall be that of the State in which the employer has the place of business to which the employee is attached. (2)If two or more persons have made an invention independently of each other, the right to a European patent therefor shall belong to the person whose European patent application has the earliest date of filing, provided that this first application has been published. (3)In proceedings before Patent Office, the applicant shall be deemed to be entitled to exercise the right to a European patent. European patent applications filed by non-entitled persons (a) If by a final decision it is adjudged that a person other than the applicant is entitled to the grant of patent, that person may, in accordance with the Implementing Regulations: (a)prosecute patent application as his own application in place of the applicant; (b)file a new European patent application in respect of the same invention; (c)request that patent application be refused. (2) Article 76, paragraph 1, shall apply mutatis mutandis to a new European patent application filed under paragraph 1(b). of the inventor to be mentioned The inventor shall have the right, vis-à-vis the applicant for or proprietor of a European patent, to be mentioned as such before Patent Office. Effects of patent and the (1)The term of patent shall be 20 years from the date of filing of the application. (2)Nothing in the preceding paragraph shall limit the right of a to extend the term of a European patent, or to grant corresponding protection which follows immediately on expiry of the term of the patent, under the same conditions as those applying to national patents: (a)in order to take account of a state of war or similar emergency conditions affecting that State; (b)if the subject-matter of patent is a product or a process for manufacturing a product or a use of a product which has to undergo an administrative authorisation procedure required by law before it can be put on the market in that State. (3)Paragraph 2 shall apply mutatis mutandis to European patents granted jointly for a group of Contracting States in accordance with Article 142. (4)A which makes provision for extension of the term or corresponding protection under paragraph 2(b) may, in accordance with an agreement concluded with the Organisation, entrust to Patent Office tasks associated with implementation of the relevant provisions. Rights conferred by a European patent (1)A European patent shall, subject to the provisions of paragraph 2, confer on its proprietor from the date on which the mention of its grant is published in Patent Bulletin, in each in respect of which it is granted, the same rights as would be conferred by a national patent granted in that State. (2)If the subject-matter of patent is a process, the protection conferred by the patent shall extend to the products directly obtained by such process. (3)infringement of a European patent shall be dealt with by national (1)may, if patent as granted, amended or limited by Patent Office is not drawn up in one of its official languages, prescribe that the proprietor of the patent shall supply to its central industrial property office a translation of the patent as granted, amended or limited in one of its official languages at his option or, where that State has prescribed the use of one specific official language, in that language. The period for supplying the translation shall end three months after the date on which the mention of the grant, maintenance in amended form or limitation of patent is published in Patent Bulletin, unless the State concerned prescribes a longer period. (2)which has adopted provisions pursuant to paragraph 1 may prescribe that the proprietor of the patent must pay all or part of the costs of publication of such translation within a period laid down by that State. (3)may prescribe that in the event of failure to observe the provisions adopted in accordance with paragraphs 1 and 2, patent shall be deemed to be void ab initio in that State. Equivalence of European filing with national filing A European patent application which has been accorded a date of filing shall, in the designated Contracting States, be equivalent to a regular national filing, where appropriate with the priority claimed for patent application. Rights conferred by a European patent application after publication (1)A European patent application shall, from the date of its publication, provisionally confer upon the applicant the protection provided for by Article 64, in the Contracting States designated in the application. (2)may prescribe that a European patent application shall not confer such protection as is conferred by Article 64. However, the protection attached to the publication of patent application may not be less than that which the laws of the State concerned attach to the compulsory publication of unexamined national patent applications. In any event, each State shall ensure at least that, from the date of publication of a European patent application, the applicant can claim compensation reasonable in the circumstances from any person who has used the invention in that State in circumstances where that person would be liable under national law for infringement of a national patent. (3)which does not have as an official language the language of the proceedings may prescribe that provisional protection in accordance with paragraphs 1 and 2 above shall not be effective until such time as a translation of the claims in one of its official languages at the option of the applicant or, where that State has prescribed the use of one specific official language, in that language: (a)has been made available to the public in the prescribed by national law, or (b)has been communicated to the person using the invention in the said State. (4) patent application shall be deemed never to have had the effects set out in paragraphs 1 and 2 when it has been withdrawn, deemed to be withdrawn or finally refused. The same shall apply in respect of the effects of patent application in a the designation of which is withdrawn or deemed to be withdrawn. Effect of revocation or limitation of patent patent application and the resulting European patent shall be deemed not to have had, from the outset, the effects specified in Articles 64 and 67, to the extent that the patent has been revoked or limited in opposition, limitation or revocation proceedings. (1)The extent of the protection conferred by a European patent or a European patent application shall be determined by the claims. Nevertheless, the description and drawings shall be used to interpret the claims. (2)For the period up to grant of patent, the extent of the protection conferred by patent application shall be determined by the claims contained in the application as published. However, patent as granted or as amended in opposition, limitation or revocation proceedings shall determine retroactively the protection conferred by the application, in so far as such protection is not thereby extended. Authentic text of a European patent application or (1)The text of a European patent application or a European patent in the language of the proceedings shall be the authentic text in any proceedings before Patent Office and in any . (2)If, however, patent application has been filed in a language which is not an official language of Patent Office, that text shall be the application as filed within the meaning of this Convention. (3)may provide that a translation into one of its official languages, as prescribed by it according to this Convention, shall in that State be regarded as authentic, except for revocation proceedings, in the event of patent application or European patent in the language of the translation conferring protection which is narrower than that conferred by it in the language of the proceedings. (4)which adopts a provision under paragraph 3: (a)shall allow the applicant for or proprietor of the patent to file a corrected translation of patent application or European patent. Such corrected translation shall not have any legal effect until any conditions established by the under Article 65, paragraph 2, or Article 67, paragraph 3, have been complied with; (b)may prescribe that any person who, in that State, in good faith has used or has made effective and serious preparations for using an invention the use of which would not constitute infringement of the application or patent in the original translation, may, after the corrected translation takes effect, continue such use in the course of his business or for the needs thereof without payment. patent application as an object of property Transfer and constitution of rights A European patent application may be transferred or give rise to rights for one or more of the designated Contracting States. An assignment of a European patent application shall be made in writing and shall require the signature of the parties to the contract. A European patent application may be licensed in whole or in part for the whole or part of the territories of the designated Contracting States. Unless this Convention provides otherwise, patent application as an object of property shall, in each designated and with effect for such State, be subject to the law applicable in that State to national patent applications. THE EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION Filing and requirements of patent application Filing of a European patent application (1) A European patent application may be filed: (a) with Patent Office, or (b) if the law of a so permits, and subject to Article 76, paragraph 1, with the central industrial property office or other competent authority of that State. application filed in this way shall have the same effect as if it had been filed on the same date with Patent Office.