The European Patent Office abolishes the “10-day rule”: Miguel Fariña and Manuel de Arpe of H&A, on The Patent Lawyer Magazine

4 January 2024

The present topic represents a relevant tipping point for applicants and representatives. From November 1, a new fiction that provokes a change of the date of notification of communications from the EPO was imposed. Time limits can be calculated from the date of notification. Not being aware of this change could cause a loss of rights to the application due to a wrong calculation of a particular time limit.

The end of the “10-day rule” specified in previous Rule 126(2)1 EPC is in response to the shift by the EPO from issuing physical documents by postal service, to issuing digital documents electronically by email. In fact, the EPO has been issuing 99% of all documents via its EPO Mailbox service since 2011.

The EPO Mailbox service allows professional representatives, legal practitioners, or applicants who have their residence or place of business in an EPC Contracting state to receive communications from the EPO online.

If you want to learn more about it and read the full article written by Miguel Fariña and Manuel de Arpe of H&A on The Patent Lawyer Magazine, you can do it at this link (pages 62-63).