The Official Journal of the European Patent Office (OJ EPO) is a monthly trilingual publication of the European Patent Office (EPO). It contains "notices and information of a general character issued by the President of the European Patent Office, as well as any other information relevant to [the European Patent Convention (EPC)] or its implementation".[1] The Official Journal is published in German, English and French, the three official languages of the EPO.[2] The three texts coexist in the same issue of the journal. The journal is published on the last day of the month.[3]

History

The first issue of the Official Journal of the EPO was published in December 1977, two months after the European Patent Convention entered into force on October 7, 1977. The first issue starts with a foreword by Johannes Bob van Benthem, the first President of the EPO.

Until 2014, the Official Journal was published both on paper and online. On January 1, 2014, the paper edition was discontinued; only the online edition remains (free of charge).[4][5] In addition, as from 2014, the articles are no longer referenced by their page number, but carry a reference number starting with "A", e.g. OJ EPO 2014, A12.[5] In 2016, the Official Journal editorial office moved from the EPO Munich office to its Vienna office.[3]

Publication of decisions of the Boards of Appeal

Only specific decisions of the Boards of Appeal of the EPO are published in the Official Journal:

  • the decisions of the Enlarged Board of Appeal (in practice, opinions of the Enlarged Board of Appeal are published as well);
  • as of 2002, individual decisions of the boards of appeal on the initiative of the board concerned.[6]

Other decisions are published on the EPO web site.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Article 129 EPC
  2. ↑ Article 14(8)(b) EPC
  3. 1 2 "Official Journal of the EPO – editorial office in Vienna as of 2016" (PDF) (1/2016). European Patent Office. 2016: 13. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. ↑ "About the online Official Journal". epo.org. European Patent Office. Retrieved July 29, 2014.
  5. 1 2 "Official Journal to go fully electronic from 2014" (PDF). Patent Information News. European Patent office (4): 10. 2013. Retrieved December 22, 2013.
  6. ↑ Notice from the Vice-President Directorate-General 3 dated 3 July 2002 concerning the publication of decisions of the boards of appeal of the European Patent Office, OJ 8-9/2002, p. 442
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