Publication

a patent application is published twice during the procedure:

• a European patent application is published as soon as possible after the expiry of a period of eighteen months from the date of filing or, if priority has been claimed, as from the date of priority (Article 93, Rules 48-50 EPC);

• at the same time as the Office publishes the mention of the grant of the European patent, the Office publishes a specification of the European patent containing the description, the claims and any drawings, Articles 98 and 103, Rule 53 EPC. An international patent application, where the Office is designated, is published under Article 21 PCT and is mentioned in the European Patent Bulletin (Article 158 EPC).

  

In publications on industrial property information matters, the terms "publication" and "published" are normally used in the sense of making available the contents of a document to the public.

Depending on the particular national law, patent documents may be published on several levels of publication, as detailed in WIPO Standard ST.16.

The international application or any related documents are not published prior to the expiration of 18 months from the priority date, unless the applicant requests early publication of the international application, or the application is withdrawn.