The documents/information/instructions required by us to prepare a European patent application are as follows:

• The full name, address and nationality/state of incorporation of each applicant.

• An English language patent specification consisting of description, claims, abstract and drawings (if any). Drawings can be filed informally at first, but formal drawings must be filed shortly afterwards.

• If priority is to be claimed for the European application, the country, date of filing and application number of the priority application. The European application must be filed within 12 months from the date of the first filing.

• If priority is claimed, a certified copy of the priority application must be filed within 16 months from the priority date, unless the priority application is a US, Japanese or Korean patent application. In this case, a copy is supplied to the European Patent Office automatically by the relevant patent office. If the priority document is not in English, French or German, a translation into one of those languages must filed within a time limit to be set by the EPO.

• Filing, search and excess claims fees for each claim above 10 are required within one month from filing a European patent application. However, we will pay these fees at the time of filing unless we receive your specific instructions to the contrary.

• Designation fees for each country to be designated in the application and the examination fee must be paid within 6 months of the date of publication of the European Search Report. The countries which can be designated are the countries which are party to the European Patent Convention at the time of filing the application, or which have an extension agreement with the EPO at the time of filing. Payment of 7 designation fees is sufficient to designate all available EPC contracting states, while a separate extension fee is required for each extension state.

• The full name and address of each inventor and, if the inventor(s) is/are not the applicant(s), an explanation of how the applicant(s) obtained its/their right(s) to the application. This information is required for the statement of inventorship which must be filed within 16 months from the priority date.