Departments and Directorates-General
The European Patent Office includes the following departments:
- A Receiving Section, responsible for the examination on filing and the examination as to formal requirements of European patent applications
- Examining Divisions, responsible for prior art searches and the examination of European patent applications
- Opposition Divisions, responsible for the examination of oppositions against any European patent
- A Legal Division
- Boards of Appeal, responsible for the examination of appeals,
- An Enlarged Board of Appeal.
In practice, the above departments of European Patent Office are organized into five "Directorates-General" (DG), each being directed by a Vice-President: DG 1 Operations, DG 2 Operational Support, DG 3 Appeals, DG 4 Administration, and DG 5 Legal/International Affairs.
The European Patent Office does not make decisions on infringement matters. National courts have jurisdiction over infringement matters regarding European patents. Regarding the validity of European patents however, both the European Patent Office during opposition proceedings (Article 99 EPC) and national courts during nullity proceedings (Article 138 EPC) may decide to revoke a European patent. According to Sir Robin Jacob, the members of the EPO Boards of Appeal are "judges in all but name".
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Famous quotes containing the word departments:
“A man sees only what concerns him.... How much more, then, it requires different intentions of the eye and of the mind to attend to different departments of knowledge! How differently the poet and the naturalist look at objects!”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)