Patent Opposition Procedure Before the European Patent Office - Statistics #patent #rolfclaessen
Channel: Rolf Claessen
Date: 2017-01-12

This video is about the opposition procedure before the European Patent Office #patent #rolfclaessen
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My name is Rolf Claessen, I am patent attorney of Michalski · Hüttermann & Partner and in this video I explain the opposition procedure against granted European Patents before the European Patent Office. I have now defended and attacked many patent before the European Patent Office and I recently analyzed over 10.000 opposition procedures and looked at parameters like the length of the claims, length of the description, number of the cited documents in the search, nationality of the applicants and representatives and much more. I will give you an overview in this video and will go into more detail in following videos.
Opposition against European Patents is the least expensive way to attack granted European Patents. The alternative – if you miss the 9 month deadline after mention of the grant – would be to file nullity actions in all countries, where the patent has been granted.
When filing the opposition, the patent and the opponent must be clearly identified. Also the grounds for the opposition must be given and should be as detailed as possible. The grounds for opposition could be:
- unallowable amendments,
- lack of disclosure,
- lack of novelty,
- lack of inventive step,
- lack of industrial applicability, and
- exceptions from patentability.
After the opposition has been filed, the patent proprietor gets a chance to submit his arguments typically within 4 months and then the opposition division will send a summons to oral proceedings including a preliminary opinion. The date for oral proceedings is typically scheduled within a year of the original filing of the opposition and the parties get another chance to submit arguments one month before oral proceedings. Parties sometimes submit additional arguments especially before the summons to oral proceedings. However, in my opinion and experience, this only delays the proceedings and does not really help the end result.
As mentioned in the beginning, I have downloaded the details of over 10.000 opposition proceedings into a database and analyzed these oppositions. I will go into more details in future videos, but some interesting findings for you here in this video:
If the priority country is Japan, the patent is revoked in 32% of all cases. If the priority country is the US, the patent is revoked in 40% of all cases. If the size of the patent family is up to 10, the opposition is rejected in 22 to 23% of all cases. If the size of the patent family is larger than 20, the opposition is rejected only in 14% of all cases. If there are more than 20 claims, the opposition is rejected only in 17% of all cases – a lot of claims do not seem to help. 
If you are new to this channel and want to learn more about patents, trademarks and designs, please subscribe to my channel. If you found this video helpful, please hit like. Leave your comments and questions below this video. And – as always – protect your intellectual property and go make it count! 

About Rolf Claessen

Rolf is patent attorney of IP boutique law firm Michalski · Hüttermann. The firm is managing about 4500 trademarks and 6500 patents and patent applications for mostly domestic medium sized clients in Germany in many technical fields.  

His personal background is chemistry and nanotechnology. Before becoming a patent attorney, he received his Ph.D. from the College of  Nanoscale Science and Engineering as well as the Chemistry Department, both at the State University of New York at Albany. Also, he worked for a small nanotechnology startup that was spun out of the Bayer group.

The focus of his practice is the prosecution of trademarks and patents and other intellectual property rights. His expertise in patent prosecution encompasses a deep understanding of patent law, prior art searches, prosecuting patent applications, patent drafting, opposition and defending against competitors. With the team at Michalski · Hüttermann, he strives to be the external IP department for many medium sized companies. 


Contact Rolf at

Dr. Rolf Claessen
Michalski · Hüttermann & Partner
Speditionstraße 21
D-40221 Düsseldorf
Germany

Telephone:  +49 211 159 249 0
Facsimile: +49 211 159 249 20
Email claessen@mhpatent.de

http://www.rolfclaessen.com


Legalese and Disclaimer

You have been watching a video by Rolf Claessen. The views expressed by the participants of this program are their own and do not represent the views of nor are they endorsed by their respective law firms.  None of the content should be considered legal advice.  This video should not be construed as legal advice or legal opinion on any specific facts or circumstances.  The contents of this video are intended for general informational purposes only and you are urged to consult your own patent attorney on any specific legal questions. As always, consult a patent attorney.