On December 9, 2010 the President of the European Patent Office has decided to exempt applicants claiming the priority of a first filing made in

- the United States of America

from filing a copy of the search results under Rule 141(1) EPC. This provision will enter into force on January 1, 2011 (i.e. together with amended Rule 141 EPC).

Already on 5 October 2010 the President of the EPO had decided that the EPO shall include in the file of a European patent application a copy of the search results referred to in Rule 141(1) EPC where a search report of the following type was drawn up by the European Patent Office on an application whose priority is claimed:

– search report made on behalf of a national office on a national application (Belgium, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Turkey).

As a result, applicants will be exempted from filing a copy of the search results under Rule 141(1) EPC if they are claiming the priority of either

- a first filing made in Japan, the United Kingdom or the United States of America.

The decision of the President of the EPO dated December 9, 2010 can be downloaded under the following link:

http://www.mueller-bore.de/tl_files/Decisions_EPO/Decision_of_EPO_Exception_under_Rule_141(1).pdf

The decision of the President of the EPO dated October 5, 2010 can be downloaded under the following link:

http://www.mueller-bore.de/tl_files/Decisions_EPO/Decision_of_the_President_of_EPO_dated_October_5_2010.pdf

The notice of the EPO dated December 9, 2010 can be downloaded under the following link:

http://www.mueller-bore.de/tl_files/Decisions_EPO/Notice_of_the_EPO_amended_Rule_141_EPC.pdf