Opposition to a granted European patent

If a person believes a European patent has been granted improperly, he may initiate opposition proceedings at the European Patent Office (EPO). Nederlandsch Octrooibureau will be pleased to conduct opposition proceedings on your behalf or, in case of opposition to your patent, conduct defence.

Procedure

Opposition proceedings must be initiated within nine months from granting a European patent. The opposition proceedings will be conducted both orally and in writing. During opposition, the party conducting the opposition proceedings may submit documents to demonstrate the invalidity of the patent concerned. If opposition is successful, the European Patent Office will partly or entirely withdraw the patent for all European countries.

Defence

The advisors at Nederlandsch Octrooibureau will be honoured to conduct defence if you, the owner of a European patent,  are facing opposition from a third party. Sometimes the patent will require adjustment. Your advisor will invest best efforts to maintain the patent in the broadest sense of the word.

Opposition

You will need to demonstrate that a third party has improperly been granted a patent. Nederlandsch Octrooibureau will then initiate the written opposition proceedings on the basis of these articles of evidence. On request Nederlandsch Octrooibureau will also collect supplementary evidence such as patent-related literature. Your advisor will plead the case and strive  to restrict the patent as much as possible or have it revoked entirely.

Other services

• Our Search and watch department provides an overview of patent and patent applications that might interest you.
• To find out whether a third party’s patent is relevant or even threatening, we will carefully advise you on cases of infringement.
• Nullity advice offers the possibility to challenge the validity of Non-European Dutch patents, or European patents of which the opposition period has expired.