European Patent for the invention "Urban Transportation and Logistics System" (classic patent with regional effect)
TIAGLIN NEWSCongratulations to the participants of the GOROD L.E.S project on receiving the European Patent for the invention "Urban Transportation and Logistics System"! Link to the document: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-SJRPXC6cD0vQGNxrJLz_2oFHyNMCSLt
A European patent is a title of protection issued by the European Patent Organisation. The European patent system is based on cooperation between the European Patent Office and the national offices of the contracting states. The basic idea of the European patent is the possibility of obtaining patent protection in 44 countries on the basis of a single application filed with the European Patent Office in one of the official languages (English, German or French).
A European patent can also be obtained through the Euro-PCT procedure, under which European patents can be issued on the basis of an international application filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).
A European patent is an easier and cheaper way to obtain patent protection if the patent is sought in at least 3-4 European countries.
According to the European Patent Convention (EPC), adopted in 1973, patenting of an invention in several countries at the same time was defined and the European Patent Organization (EPO) was established, which has been operating since 1977 and structurally consists of two bodies: the European Patent Office (EPO) and the Administrative Council. The EPO is directly involved in the issuance of European patents (executive body) through the activities of the appeal chambers, and the function of the Administrative Council is to organize control over the activities of the EPO. The European Patent Office (EPO) is the executive body of the European Patent Organization (official website: https://www.epo.org/en), performing functions to provide legal protection for inventions operating in the territory of the EPO member states, as well as administering the rights to this type of intellectual property. The main task of the EPO is to receive, examine, publish applications and grant European patents for inventions in accordance with the European Patent Convention of 1973. Users (applicants) are given the opportunity to choose between national patents, classical European patents and European patents with a single effect in the territory of the Member States of the European Union (EU).
The Convention provides for the possibility of filing a patent application with the European Patent Office (EPO) in one of its three official languages (English, German, French). On the basis of the application, after careful examination, a European patent is issued. This patent, at the request of the applicant, can be valid in all (unitary nature) or only in some of the countries that are members of the EPC. In each such country, it is valid as a national patent.
Currently, the European Patent Convention has 39 member states, plus Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is not a member of the EPC but has signed an agreement with the EPO on the extension of the European patent in its territory. In addition, 4 countries that are not members of the EPC have signed an agreement with the EPO on the validation of the European patent in their territory. The European Patent is valid in the member states of the EPC in the same way as if the patent had been obtained in the territory of these countries under the national procedure.
The European patent automatically extends to France, Germany, Switzerland/Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Belgium, Ireland and the United Kingdom. To extend the European patent to the other member states, the European Patent Convention provides for a validation procedure, which involves translating the application materials into the national languages of the selected countries and paying official fees to their offices. Validation is the recognition by a certain state of the validity of a regional patent in its territory by publishing a translation of the patent into the national language. The European Patent Convention (EPC) provides for a validation procedure for the purpose of extending the European patent to the other member states as a whole; all or most of the technical solutions implemented in it are assessed. The search is carried out for each country separately. The patent laws, regulations and case law of all countries covered by the search are taken into account. As a rule, for newly created objects, the search is carried out in order to ensure their patent purity and should be an integral part of the general patent research carried out both before and during development.
Also, on the basis of the classical European patent, at the applicant’s request, a European patent with unitary effect may be issued, better known as the Unitary Patent of the European Union – this is a European patent issued in accordance with the requirements of the European Patent Convention, which has a unitary effect in the territory of the member states (up to 25 EU countries): Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, Slovenia. In this case, its protection automatically extends to the territory of all member states without exception; there is no need to use the services of local patent attorneys; instead of paying annual fees for maintaining the classical European patent in force, a single fee is paid separately in each country to the European Patent Office, which reduces the risk of patent revocation due to failure to pay the fee within the deadline, and the amount of the official fee is significantly lower than if the fees were paid separately to each office.
Taking into account such a universal tool, the European patenting of the "Urban Transportation and Logistics System" was carried out in the international patent law system PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty 1970). In the PCT system, the international application for the invention "Urban Transportation and Logistics System" (UTLS) was published by the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization (IB WIPO) on the PATENTSCOPE resource (https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=WO2018030915) in February 2018 under the number WO 2018/030915 A1. The publication of the application by D.V. Tiaglin was made after a patent search in the form of a brochure, including a standard title page, description, drawings, international search report, and claims.
The application for the invention "Urban Transportation and Logistics System" in the interests of D. Tiaglin was filed with the EPO through a patent attorney in June 2017, registered under number EP 17839909. In 2019, the EPO sent the applicant a patent search report and a notice of publication of the application in the European Patent Bulletin in accordance with Article 153 of the European Patent Cooperation (EPC). In accordance with the European Patent Convention, an examination of the application for an invention was carried out to establish its compliance with the main requirements of patentability: novelty, inventive step and industrial applicability. Moreover, the examination of the application can last from 2 to 6 years from the date of filing the application.
Since the official publication of the application, the invention has been granted temporary protection in the contracting states: Austria, Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Hungary, Germany, Greece, Denmark, Ireland, Iceland, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, Finland, France, Croatia, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Sweden, Estonia, etc.
During the substantive examination of the application for the invention "Urban Transportation and Logistics System" in 2022, an examination report was issued, which contained a preliminary positive decision on the application and a proposal to make formal corrections to the declared materials (information) for the invention. After receiving a response to the expert request, the consideration of the application was continued.
In February 2024, the expert committee of the European Patent Office (EPO) issued a decision to grant a patent for the invention "Urban Transportation and Logistics System" to D. Tiaglin. The decision to grant came into force from the moment of its publication in the European Patent Bulletin on 10 April 2024, after payment of the publication and grant fees, as well as the fee for maintaining the application.
Based on the application for the EU Unitary Patent, the unitary effect of the European patent EP 3498912 was registered in the Register for Unitary Patent Protection on 16 May 2024.
Information on the specified unitary patent is published at: https://register.epo.org/application?number=EP17839909&lng=en&tab=ueMain
The publication of the invention "Urban Transportation and Logistics System" is posted in the Google Patents service: https://patents.google.com/patent/EP3498912A1/en
The European regional patent system is one of the most effective and popular patent systems for patent holders and allows them to protect their rights in the EU and some other countries that have signed an agreement with the EPO on the extension of the European patent to their territories: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Morocco, Moldova, Tunisia and Cambodia.
Link to the document: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-SJRPXC6cD0vQGNxrJLz_2oFHyNMCSLt
Project Team