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4.2 Presenting your invention

Overview

Drafting the technical application documents 

4.2.004The requirements relating to the content of the description, claims, drawings and abstract are set out in Articles 83 to 85 and Rules 42, 43, 47 and 48.

Art. 83-85
R. 42-50
GL A‑III, 3.2
GL A‑VIII, 2
GL A‑IX

The formal requirements for these documents are defined in Rules 46, 47 and 49; those for documents filed subsequently are in Rule 50.

4.2.005The following are the main provisions governing the form of application documents and documents filed subsequently: 

Art. 78(1)
R. 49
R. 50
GL A‑VIII, 2.1

(a) The documents making up the European patent application (description, claims, drawings and abstract) must be filed in a single copy. The same applies to documents replacing these original documents. 

(b) In the case of paper filings, the documents must be on strong, pliable, white A4 paper (portrait format). 

(c) Each document making up the application (request, description, claims, drawings and abstract) must begin on a new sheet. 

(d) All the sheets must be numbered in consecutive Arabic numerals, which must be positioned top centre but not in the top margin. 

(e) The following minimum margins (type area) must be left blank: 

(f) The lines of each sheet of the description and the claims should be numbered in sets of five, the numbers appearing on the left side, to the right of the margin. 

(g) The line spacing must be 1.5. 

(h) The documents must be typed or printed, with a minimum character height of 0.21 cm for capital letters (normally font size 9 or 10). 

(i) There must be no handwritten additions to the text. 

R. 49(12)

The special requirements for drawings are dealt with in the Guidelines for Examination (A‑IX).

4.2.006Annex II gives three examples of how to draft a European patent application.

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