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[PaigeAttorney]

If a patent is filed as a regional patent application in Europe and then enters the various European countries at the regional phase and obtains a patent, and the patent lapses in one of the contracting states of Europe, does the patent lapse in all countries or does it just lapse in individual countries?

Sorry if I am not explaining it well.

[bartmans]

When a European patent is granted, it falls apart in a so-called 'bundle of national patents'. After grant, the European patent has to be validated in any of the designated countries, which normally involves - within three months after the date of grant - payment of a fee and filing of a translation (although this last requirement is no longer necessary in all countries and/or for the complete text on basis of the London protocol). This also means, that it is not necessary to validate in all the designated States, it's up to the patent proprietor to do so in the countries where he wants to vest the protection.
Each of those national patents has the same effect as would a nationally granted patent have. This also implies that each of these national-European patents stands on itself, i.e. a lapse in one country by e.g. not paying the validation fee or by non-payment of annuity fees does not influence the validity in other countries. Even if a national court in one country invalidates the national part of the European patent, the patent will be maintained in the other countries, until a local court in such another country invalidates the patent.

The only actions after grant that have a bearing on the total bundle of national patents rising out of the European patent are opposition and limitation. These are filed with the European Patent Office and affect the validity of the European patent as granted. If during opposition, and of course during limitation, a European patent is limited, said limited patent should again be validated in all the contracting States where protection is wanted.