Written question asked by Eric Forth (Conservative) on Monday, 11 July 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 13 July 2005. It was answered by Alan Johnson (Labour) on Monday, 18 July 2005 on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry.

Patent Act

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the commencement date is for the part of the Patent Act 2004 relating to post-grant amendments.

Answer: The part of the Patents Act 2004 relating to post-grant amendment is one of several provisions which will bring UK patents legislation into line with the revised European Patent Convention (““EPC””). All such provisions will be brought into force at the same time as the revised EPC itself comes into force, which is desirable in order to maintain consistency between the UK and European patents systems. It is uncertain exactly when this will be, because the revised EPC takes effect 2 years after the 15th state has ratified or acceded, or (if earlier) three months after the final state has ratified or acceded. At present I understand that 14 states have done so, and therefore that the revised EPC, and the corresponding provisions in the 2004 Act, are very unlikely to take effect until mid-2007 at the earliest.

Secondary information