Term of the European patent

According to the art. 63 par. 1 of the European Patent Convention  (EPC) , the term of the European patent shall be 20 years from the date of filing of the application. 

Nothing in the mentioned paragraph shall limit the right of a Contracting State 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 the European 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. 

Prepared by the European Patent Registration and Consulting Services GmbH