Facts
- Applicant missed a 2-month time limit set by the examining division to adapt the description to amended claims (loss of rights follows).
- EPO issued a Rule 112(1) notice of loss of rights, dated 26 June 2025.
- Applicant only notices it on Saturday 30 August 2025.
A) Further processing: deadline and requirements
When a loss of rights is noted and communicated, further processing under Art. 121 EPC is available for most missed EPO time limits, and the conditions are in Rule 135 EPC.
Under Rule 135(1) EPC:
further processing is requested by payment of the further-processing fee within 2 months of the loss-of-rights communication; and
the omitted act must be completed within the same 2 months.
Notification date assumption used in exam-style calculations: for EPO communications, the period generally runs from the deemed delivery/receipt of the communication (Rule 131(2)); under current practice this is normally the date the document bears, unless proven otherwise.
So: Deemed notification: 26 June 2025 + 2 months → 26 August 2025
a) “Further processing expired on 26 Aug 2025.” — True
Because the 2-month period under Rule 135(1) EPC ends on 26 Aug 2025.
c) “Further processing requires all due care.” — False
The “all due care” criterion belongs to re-establishment of rights (Art. 122 EPC), not further processing. Further processing is essentially a fee-based remedy plus completing the omitted act in time.
B) Re-establishment after missing the further-processing deadline
If the time limit for requesting further processing has expired, the Guidelines explain that re-establishment may then come into play.
A request for re-establishment of rights must, as a rule, be filed:
within 2 months from removal of the cause of non-compliance, and
- at the latest within 1 year of expiry of the unobserved time limit,
and the omitted act must be completed within that period (Rule 136).
Here, the applicant discovered the loss-of-rights notice on 30 Aug 2025 → that is the (stated) removal of the cause.
2 months from 30 Aug 2025 → 30 Oct 2025.
b) “Re-establishment expires on 3 Nov 2025.” — False
Even if re-establishment is available here, the 2-month period from 30 Aug 2025 ends on 30 Oct 2025, not 3 Nov 2025.
C) What must be done to “save the application”
To recover, it is not enough to file only a re-establishment request + fees + due-care evidence.
You must also ensure that all formal requirements are met, in particular:
for further processing: the omitted act must be completed (here: filing the adapted description) within the relevant period (Rule 135(1)).
for re-establishment: the request must set out grounds/facts, the fee must be paid, and the omitted act must be completed within the re-establishment period (Rule 136(2)).
d) The listed steps are sufficient — False
Because the list does not include completing the omitted act (filing the adapted description), which is a mandatory element.
Exam Tip:
When you see Rule 112(1) loss of rights:
- First compute the Rule 135(1) deadline: 2 months from the loss-of-rights communication, and remember: fee + omitted act within that period.
- If that is missed, check whether re-establishment can then apply (Guidelines: it may come into play once the further-processing deadline has expired).
- For re-establishment, always write the “three musts”: in time (2 months from removal), fee paid, and omitted act completed (Rule 136).
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