EPO課程：專利申請的形式和實質要求

Requirements for inventions and applications

In this section you will find information about the essential formal and substantive requirements that all patent applications must comply with.

Requirements for inventions

An invention must meet the following substantive requirements in order to be patentable:

• It must be new. In other words, it must be original and not already available/known to the public in any form 
  > novelty requirement.
  

• It must present an original solution to solving the technical problem proposed. In other words, it must present a solution that an expert would not normally consider obvious 
  > inventive step requirement.
  

• It must be susceptible of industrial application 
  > industrial application requirement.

  
  

Requirements for applications

A patent application must, on the one hand, include all required elements related to structure and, on the other hand, must comply with the requirements of clarity, unity and sufficiency of disclosure.

Elements of structure

An application must contain:

(1) A description of the claimed invention. This will normally include: 

• an introduction to the technical field
  

• identification of the state of the art and related problems 
  

• a general statement on what the invention aims to achieve

• at least one particular way of carrying out the invention, normally called an embodiment of the invention.
  
  

(2) One or more claims. From a legal point of view these are the key element. The wording of the claims defines the scope of protection sought by the applicant (and ultimately granted by the patent). The exclusive right of the patent owner is defined by this scope.

A claim normally has two parts:

• a preamble which sets forth the general technical environment of the invention and contains features that are known from the prior art, and

• a characterising portion which contains at least one new (and inventive) feature that represents the contribution over the prior art.

The two parts are normally separated by a phrase such as 'characterised in that'. This is not always the case, though. Claims may sometimes contain expressions which are illustrative rather than limiting. They can also be written in single-part form, although this makes it more difficult to understand where the contribution of the invention lies. It is therefore essential that they be formulated clearly and concisely, so that the scope of the invention is clear too.

(3) Drawings in order to facilitate understanding of the invention.

Other requirements

When it comes to how it is formulated, the application must meet the following requirements: 

• It must have one single concept which is inventive and which links all the subject-matter claimed, as a patent may be granted for one invention only > unity requirement.

• The scope of what is sought to be patented must be clearly defined. A patent is a legal document which gives its owner the exclusive right to prevent other people from commercially exploiting their invention. In return for this exclusive right, the owner must disclose sufficient information about the invention. In that way, technological progress is promoted and others can build upon the invention > sufficiency of disclosure requirement. 
  

• The claims must be unambiguously and concisely formulated so that the examiner (and the public) understands exactly what the invention is about > clarity requirement.

  
  

Article 82 EPC: Unity of invention
Article 83 EPC: Disclosure of the invention
Article 84 EPC: Claims
Rule 13 PCT: Unity of Invention
Article 5 PCT: The Description
Article 6 PCT: The Claims

Example

(EP 3132837) (abridged and adapted for the purposes of this course)

Description

The present invention relates to a water filter cartridge according to the preamble of claim 1. In humidifiers, especially table devices, generally tap water is finely dispersed in a tank and fed to an air stream which carries the finely dispersed droplets (mist) from the device. The actual evaporation or resolution of the fog then takes place outside the device […]

What is claimed

Water filter cartridge (1), comprising a housing (2) and a flow path (3) for air (4) for ventilation of the water filter cartridge dining, water before consultative water tank, characterized in that the flow path (3) a first water barrier (27) comprises a blow-off opening (28) […]

Drawing