Professional Representatives
Professional representatives bear the title of European patent attorney (EPA). In order to be a European patent attorney, one must:
- be a national of one of the EPC Contracting States (the President of the EPO may grant exemptions "in special circumstances"); and
- have a place of business in one of the EPC Contracting States; and
- have passed the European qualifying examination (EQE); or
Formerly being a qualified or experienced patent attorney at the entry into force of the EPC in their state provided exemption from passing the EQEs (known as the "grandfather clause"). In December 1998, the ratio of registrations under the grandfather clause to those having passed the EQE was two to one. In 29 November 2000, this clause was removed from the EPC.
Read more about this topic: Representation Before The European Patent Office
Famous quotes containing the word professional:
“Three words that still have meaning, that I think we can apply to all professional writing, are discovery, originality, invention. The professional writer discovers some aspect of the world and invents out of the speech of his time some particularly apt and original way of putting it down on paper.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)