The list below shows the various statuses that national patent offices (NPOs) may provide for EP patents via the Federated Register, together with a detailed description of what each one means.
The status of a granted EP patent in the various member states can be found in the Federated Register panel, in the Status column of the common overview. The information displayed by each NPO in this panel may differ. For details, see the NPO content pages here.
Formalities in progress
The procedure is still ongoing because the required formalities have not yet been completed.
Request for validation received
Validation of the EP patent has been requested at the relevant NPO.
Patent limited
The claims of the granted European patent have been amended and the patent has been limited.
Patent lapsed - still in grace period
The patent has lapsed but could still be reinstated as the grace period for late payment has not yet expired.
Patent maintained in amended form
The granted European patent that was originally refused during the opposition phase has now been granted following amendment, e.g. revised claims.
Patent revoked
The European patent was revoked during the opposition procedure.
For a revoked patent, the following date fields (one or both) may be populated:
○ Invalidation date: date on which the decision to revoke the patent
was taken.
○ Not in force since: date as of which the rights conferred by the patent
are no longer in force. It can be retroactive in some cases and earlier
than the invalidation date.
Note: If a patent has been revoked, it is considered not valid ab initio , meaning that it was never in force.
Patent revoked by applicant
The European patent has been revoked by the applicant.
For a patent revoked by the applicant, the following date fields (one or both) may be populated:
○ Invalidation date: date on which the decision to revoke the patent
was taken.
○ Not in force since: date as of which the rights conferred by the patent
are no longer in force. It can be retroactive in some cases and earlier
than the invalidation date.
Note: If a patent has been revoked, it is considered not valid ab initio, meaning it was never in force.
Patent lapsed
The patent has lapsed because the annual renewal fees have not been paid.
Patent expired
The patent has expired because the protection period came to an end (20th year).
For an expired patent, the following date fields (one or both) may be populated:
○ Invalidation date: expiry date
○ Not in force since: expiry date
Patent surrendered
This status is relevant for any stage during the opposition period.
For a surrendered patent, the following date fields (one or both) may be populated:
○ Invalidation date: date on which the decision to surrender the patent
was taken.
○ Not inforce since: date as of which the rights conferred by the patent
are no longer in force. It can be retroactive in some cases and earlier
than the invalidation date.
Request for EP validation pending
A request for validation of the EP patent has not been submitted but could still be filed as the time limit has not expired.
Patent validated
The granted European patent has been validated by the NPO. However, the status could still change to "Patent not in force" later.
Note: A valid patent may be mapped to "Patent validated" and/or "Patent in force". The difference between the two statuses lies in the granularity of the information that the NPO wishes to provide, i.e.:
○ Patent validated indicates the patent has been validated but may no
longer be in force.
○ Patent in force is relevant to patents that have been validated in a
specific country and remain valid there.
A country was listed as a designated contracting/extension/validation state but due to one or more incomplete formalities, e.g. failure to provide translations in time, the European patent is not considered valid there.
Note 1: A patent that has not been validated may be mapped to "Patent not validated" or "Patent not in force".
○ Patent not validated should be used if the patent was never validated
in a particular designated state.
○ Patent not in force indicates that the patent was indeed validated in
a specific country but that at some point during its lifetime it ceased
to be in force there.
Note 2: The data displayed in the Federated Register depends on how the NPO's patent register processes the data when it has not been validated in that country, i.e.:
○ The record for non-validated patents in the NPO register displays the
status "Patent not validated" and the corresponding deep-linking
feature points to a record in the NPO register that indicates that
the patent has not been validated in that country.
○ The NPO register does not provide a record for non-validated patents
and the FRS table displays the message "No data provided by the
national patent office for this patent". The corresponding deep-linking
feature points to an empty record in the NPO register.
Patent in force
A patent was validated and is still valid.
Note: A valid patent may be mapped to both "Patent validated" and "Patent in force". The difference between the two statuses lies in the granularity of the information provided by the NPO, i.e.:
○ Patent validated indicates that the patent has been validated by a
specific NPO but may later cease to be in force.
○ Patent in force has a wider coverage and refers to the status of the
patent that has been validated in a specific country and remains valid
there.
Patent not in force
The patent was validated in a country but at some point ceased to be in force. There may be various reasons for this, e.g. results of an opposition procedure, expiry.
Note: "Patent not in force" status can be used to map any of the following events: patent revoked, patent revoked by applicant, patent lapsed, patent expired, patent surrendered.
Appeal filed
Decisions to refuse a patent are appealed through the boards of appeal in one of the following procedures before the EPO: grant, opposition, limitation and revocation.
Nullity requested
A request for nullity due to lack of novelty, inventive step, etc. may be requested for a patent after grant or during the opposition phase.
This status may be used if the current status of the patent is not known.
Note: The status is generic, so it should be used only for cases where no other status is available.