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Thursday, December 13, 2007

Bye, Bye, EPC 1973.

The revised European Patent Convention (EPC2000) comes into effect on December 13, 2007. EPO has revised the website www.epo.org, and both the new 2000 and the 1973 versions of the EPC are

available concurrently so that users can consult and compare the texts during the transitional phase. For each article or section in a particular version, a cross-reference list in the right-hand column indicates the corresponding section(s) in the other version.

Although there is no confirmation that Portugal diplomats actually have managed to deposit the Instrument of Ratification for the EPC2000 with the German Foreign Office in Berlin, it is generally assumed that no one of the EPC 1973 Member States including Portugal will have failed to join the EPC 2000.

[UPDATE 2007-12-13 12:00] EPO has just updated the

EPC2000 Ratification Status Page, confirming that according to the information available to them, the deposit of the Portuguese Instrument Of Ratification took place on 12.12.2007. A very last-minute action, indeed.

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