Representation before the European Patent Office

A representative before the European Patent Office ( colloquially European Patent Attorney European Patent Attorney or English ) is entitled to represent natural or legal persons before the European Patent Office.

Professional representatives are mostly freelance national patent attorneys or patent salaried professionals. The European Patent Office shall maintain a list in which all Authorized Representatives are registered. In addition to the authorized representative lawyers are just as entitled to represent what but in practice does not matter.

Job description and activities

The freelancer under the Professional representatives have a place of business, staff employment in the territory of the Contracting States to the European Patent Convention ( EPC).

The activity of the Authorized Representative is to file patent applications at the European Patent Office and to represent his clients or his company in the patent granting procedure or in opposition proceedings. These include usually also the monitoring of the relevant deadlines and the timely payment of fees.

Training

Authorized representatives may be, who

1 a qualification in the natural sciences or technical field, has

2 Experience has, that is, trained under the supervision of an authorized representative has completed, or has been engaged as a clerk in a company established in a Contracting State with patent matters, and

3 has passed a qualifying examination.

The work experience after qualification must have been acquired. The qualification and experience are prerequisites for admission to the aptitude test.