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[IPStudent]

Hi,
Can any body explain me the following?

1.Once  an EP patent is granted and validated in designated countries...do the national offices provide a seperate number to the national equivalent..(which will become the family member..)?
2.What is the exact procedure for maintainan fees payment in case of EP patent(to the EPO or the national offices).?

[bartmans]

The answers:

1) depends on the country; some countries give the european patent a separate number, others do not. If you want examples, I suppose you just check INPADOC (via espacenet.com).

2) Only during the pre-grant phase maintenance fees are to be paid at the European Patent Office. After grant, the maintenance fees should be paid to each of the national offices where the patent is validated and still in force (although the EPO receives back 50% of the fees paid to the national offices). There are many firms (like CPI, Dennemeyer and CPA) to which paying the mainenance fees can be outsourced.

[IPStudent]

Thanks..but an additional clarification..
For exmple EP granted is validated in NL GB and DE now post validation even if the NL and GB is not maintained (lapsed) the status of the EP patent will be active becuse of the active DE patent. (?)

[bartmans]

the status of the EP patent will be active becuse of the active DE patent

This is a rather strange way to say this.
What basically happens is that after grant the European patent falls apart in a bundle of national patents. Thus, the EP patent falls apart in a Dutch, a German, a Britisch patent and so on. If now any of these national patents lapses this has no effect on the pendency of any of the other patents.