EPC2000: this time it's for real
The revised version of the European Patent Convention will enter into force on 13 December 2007 for sure. This will be two years to the day since Greece was the 15th state to ratify EPC2000. Since there is now less than three months to go before this date, and not all signatory states have ratified, the date is now fixed (if the IPKat's calculations are correct).
Time is therefore getting rather short for the remaining countries to ratify, which they must do before 13 December to prevent being automatically ejected from the EPC altogether (Article 172(4)). These countries are, from a check on the EPO website, Cyprus, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Sweden and Turkey.
Given that the consequences for not ratifying are so serious, it is practically unthinkable that any of them would come in late. The IPKat idly wonders what would be the effect if Germany, the de facto “home” of the EPC, failed in their duty. All sorts of cats would be set amongst all sorts of pigeons, he suspects.
Just for a bit of fun, which country do you think will be the last to ratify? Do please cast your vote on the new IPKat sidebar poll, where you can also check when IPKat readers think France will do the right thing and let the London Agreement enter into force (not as soon as the EPO thinks, by the look of it).
Time is therefore getting rather short for the remaining countries to ratify, which they must do before 13 December to prevent being automatically ejected from the EPC altogether (Article 172(4)). These countries are, from a check on the EPO website, Cyprus, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Sweden and Turkey.
Given that the consequences for not ratifying are so serious, it is practically unthinkable that any of them would come in late. The IPKat idly wonders what would be the effect if Germany, the de facto “home” of the EPC, failed in their duty. All sorts of cats would be set amongst all sorts of pigeons, he suspects.Just for a bit of fun, which country do you think will be the last to ratify? Do please cast your vote on the new IPKat sidebar poll, where you can also check when IPKat readers think France will do the right thing and let the London Agreement enter into force (not as soon as the EPO thinks, by the look of it).