According to the paper, the purpose of the consultation is to
explain the effect on the Patents Act of the EPC, which was agreed
in November 2000, and also to seek views on proposed changes.
The main amendments proposed by the Patent Office refer to the
Patents Act's provisions regarding the conditions for and
exceptions to patentability and the definition of novelty, aiming
to bring them in line with the EPC's provisions.
The consultation paper also sets out proposals not related to
the implementation of the EPC, but designed to generally update and
modernise our patent system, such as changes to the conditions and
fees for filing a patent application in the UK.
The Patent Office invites comments from all interested parties
and all responses should be submitted by 21st February 2003.
The consultation document is available as a 57-page PDF
from:
www.patent.gov.uk/about/consultations/patact/patact.pdf
The European Patent Convention 2002 can be found at:
www.european-patent-office.org/legal/epc/e/contents.html
