Norway has been a member of the EPO since January 1, 2008. It has been observed, both by the profession and the Norwegian Patent Office, a clear drop in the number of PCT national phase entries in Norway this year. A drop in national phase entries was not expected until mid next year, according to Bryn Aarflot As.
A possible reason for this may be that foreign applicants have assumed that it is the time of entry into regional phase that decides if a European phase of a PCT application also will apply for Norway.
The date that decides whether Norway is included in the European phase of a PCT application or not, is the time of filing of the international patent application. The condition for obtaining patent rights in Norway through a European patent is that Norway had joined the EPC at the time of filing of the international patent application. Thus, PCT applications with application date prior to January 1, 2008 must be filed through a national phase entry in Norway (the same way as prior to the Norwegian membership of the EPC) within 31 months of the priority date, in order to obtain a patent in Norway. Only European Patents (EP) with international filing date January 1, 2008 or later will be possible to validate in Norway.
Please carefully consider the date of filing of the international patent application when patent rights in Norway are of interest.
- PCT applications with international filing date prior to January 1, 2008 must enter national phase in Norway.
- PCT applications with international filing date January 1, 2008 or later can be validated in Norway via an EP patent.
If you have missed the national phase entry date in Norway for a PCT application which has been filed prior to January 1, 2008, the only possibility existing to remedy this omission is to file a request for restitution. The request has to be filed within two months from when the mistake was discovered and at the latest one year from the date missed (31 months from the priority date). To obtain restitution it must be shown that the applicant and his attorney have exercised all due care. We have received no information indicating that the Norwegian Patent Office will apply the all due care requirement more liberally despite the fact that there are special circumstances in these cases.
Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our office: Europe@agip.com