According to the UK IPO, the changes will affect the following areas:

Methods of treatment or diagnosis

Methods of treatment or diagnosis will no longer be treated as un-patentable due to a lack of industrial applicability, they will lack patentability in their own right. The law will also be simplified and clarified with regard to substances or compositions for use in such a method to ensure continued consistency between United Kingdom (UK) patent law and European Patent law.

Post-grant amendment

EPC 2000 introduces a new central amendment process for post-grant amendment of European patents. This process will proceed at the European Patent Office and the amendment will be effective in all Contracting States designated by the European Patent. It will still be possible to amend a European patent (UK) at the UK Intellectual Property Office wherein the amendment will only be effective in the UK. The provisions on relief for a partially valid patent or revocation of a patent are also amended to take account of the new central amendment process.

Prior art effect of European Patent applications

EPC 2000 changes the procedure for designation of Contracting States when filing a European Patent application. All Contracting States will be automatically designated on filing and removal of a designation prior to publication of the application will no longer affect the prior art status of the European patent application for assessing novelty of an invention under Article 54(3). Similarly under section 2(3) of the Patents Act 1977, removal of the UK designation prior to publication will not affect the prior art status of a European patent application. This means that every European patent application will automatically represent a potential section 2(3) document.

Review by the Enlarged Board of Appeal

The revised European Patent Convention will provide for a review of decisions by the Board of Appeal by an Enlarged Board of Appeal. However, in such a review the decision of the Board of Appeal is not suspended for the duration of the review. Provision is therefore made for third party terms allowing third parties who have, in good faith, commenced working a patent subsequent to a decision of the Board of Appeal to continue to do so after restoration of the patent. Some changes to UK patent law are required to ensure that such protection is available to third parties where a European patent has been revoked or refused and then restored or reinstated. The changes ensure that there is consistency between the treatment with respect to restored or reinstated European patents and reinstated or resuscitated national patent applications.

Conversion of EP(UK) applications

Transitional provisions associated with setting up of the EPO in the 1970s are removed and provisions for conversion of a European patent application to a national application when a European patent application is deemed to be withdrawn because the application has not been forwarded to the EPO within the required time are restated.

The European Patent Convention (EPC) is a multilateral treaty that provides a legal framework for the granting of patents in Europe via a single, unitary procedure and forms the legal basis for the European Patent Organisation and its executive organ, the European Patent Office (EPO).

It has taken ten years to overhaul the original EPC, which dates from 1973.

According to the European Patent Office:

"The changes will bring the EPC up to date with the latest legal developments concerning patents internationally, while retaining the time-tested structure and the high standards of quality for which the system is known. The modernised EPC will make procedures before the EPO quicker, clearer and more efficient."

Commenting on the key objectives of the new Convention, the EPO added that:

"The revised EPC is not just a new edition of the existing convention. It has been adapted to take into account (of) developments in international law, especially those of the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), a World Trade Organization treaty setting
minimum standards for many forms of intellectual property (IP) regulation, as well as the Patent Law Treaty, which aims to harmonise formal procedures, such as the requirements to obtain a filing date for a patent application."

It went on to suggest that:

"The patent system is permanently changing. Some provisions of the original convention have become obsolete so these have been deleted in the modified version of the EPC, while over complicated provisions have been simplified. Moreover, the whole convention has been re-edited to harmonise terminology and to simplify the wording of the provisions, where appropriate."

And revealed that:

"The EPC has also been adapted to respond to a number of user needs and expectations."

"Patent applicants and patentees will enjoy a number of key benefits following the introduction of the revised EPC. These include less bureaucracy, lower overall costs and enhanced legal remedies in the event of deficiencies."