The European Patent Convention (EPC) 欧洲专利公约（EPC）
Currently, for ICT-related inventions the two most important areas to obtain patent protection are probably the United States and West-European countries. Twenty European countries are currently member to the European Patent Convention, and it is possible to obtain patent protection in tho countries through a single procedure before the European Patent Office.
目前，与信息通讯技术相关的两个最重要的领域的发明,其专利的保护一般都是通过进入美国和西欧等国家获取的。欧洲专利公约当前加入了20个新成员国，并使申请人在向欧洲专利局提交申请之前能够通过某单一程序向所在成员国申请专利保护。
壁纸帅哥While quite a few aspects of patent law have been harmonized internationally (not in the least due to treaties like the Patent Cooperation Treaty or TRIPS), there still are many important differences between the two systems. This article discuss veral of them.
虽然，专利法中有相当几个方面的内容已经做了国际化的协调与统一（不完全与《专利合作
条约》以及《与贸易有关的知识产权协议》相同），但美欧两个系统间仍旧存在重要的差异，本文就其差异做出以下几点概括。
First to file versus first to invent
先申请制VS先发明制
When two people apply for a patent on the same invention, the first person to have filed his application will get the patent (assuming the invention is patentable, of cour). This holds even if the cond person did in fact come up with the invention first. The only thing that counts is the filing date.
若两名当事人就同一个发明分别申请专利权，那么率先提出申请者将获得该专利权（假设该发明确认是具有可专利性的）。由此认为，尽管此项发明是由第二个申请人先提出的，但仅以提交申请的日期为准。
In the USA, a slightly different approach is ud. In ca of two applications for the same invention (a so-called interference), a determination is made who invented it first. This us
ually involves examining laboratory logbooks, establishing dates for prototypes, and so on. If the person who filed later is found to have invented earlier, he may be awarded the patent.
而美国则使用了稍微不同的方法。为了避免两位申请人申请同一发明的专利（即所谓的干扰），于是由先发明制决定专利权的所属人。依据通常包括：检查实验室研发日记，专利原型的创建日期等。如果后申请人能证明是其先做此发明的，也有获得专利权的可能。
Grace period
宽限期
If the invention has become publicly available in any way before the patent application was filed, the application will be rejected (Article 54 EPC). "Publicly available" includes lling the invention, giving a lecture about it, showing it to an investor without a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), publishing it in a magazine, and so on. It does not make a difference whether the person making it publicly available is the inventor, one of the inventors, or an independent third party.
若发明是在提交专利申请之前以任何形式向社会公开过的，该申请将被拒绝（《欧洲专利公约》第54条规定）。公开发布的形式包括出售发明，召开讲座，未规定保密协议（NDA）就向投资者展示，在杂志上发表等。无论做出此行为的人是发明者、发明者之一或者独立的第三方，该申请都将被拒。
The USA has a one-year grace period (35 US Code ction 102). This means that the inventor can freely publish his invention without losing patent rights. However, this only applies for the USA. If an inventor does so, he automatically los all potential patent rights in Europe (as well as many other countries in the world).
计算机编程基础美国对此有一年的宽限期（35美国法典第102条规定），这意味着发明人能在此期限内自由发布其发明的信息且不会因此失去专利权。然而，此规定只适用于美国。若发明人做出了以上行为，他将自动失去欧洲国家的潜在专利权（全球除美国以外的任意国家均不支持此项规定）。
Best mode requirement世界上第一张照片
最佳模式的要求如何挽回金牛座
US patent law requires the inventor to include the best way to practice the invention in the patent application (35 US Code ction 112). This way, the inventor cannot get a patent and still keep some esntial or advantageous aspect a cret.
美国专利法案要求发明者在专利申请书中要包含一个实现该发明的最佳方式（35美国法典第112条规定）。通过这种方式，可以防止发明人在获得专利的同时还保留一些必要或有利的方面作为秘密。
In contrast, European patent law has no such requirement. At least one way of practicing the invention must be included in the application (Article 83 EPC), but there is nothing that states this way must be the best way, or even a good way.
相反，欧洲专利法案并没有做此规定。但是，申请人要在递交申请书时包含至少一项该发明的实践方式（《欧洲专利公约》第83条规定），然而没有在实践方法的好坏程度上做规定。
儿科自我鉴定
Publication of patent applications
手的画法
专利申请的公布
Until recently, US patents were only published after grant. This has been changed, and now in the US patent applications are published 18 months after their filing date, unless they have been withdrawn or they are filed with a non-publication request, stating that the application is US only.
直至最近，美国专利只有在经过授权之后才能公布的规定已被更改。除了专利申请被撤销或者提出非公开裁决的要求这两种状况之外，美国的专利申请将会在申请之日起的十八个月后进行公布，并声明该规定只适用于美国。
电脑图片格式This is very similar (except for the request) to the European situation, where all patent applications are published 18 months after their filing date, unless they have been withdrawn. If the novelty arch has been completed by that time, the arch report is included with the publication.
欧洲公布专利申请的规定与美国的情况相似（要求方面有所不同），除了专利申请被撤销90后电影
的情况以外，欧洲专利均能在申请之日起的十八个月后进行公布。若发明新颖性的检索能在同一时期完成，那该检索报告就会包含在公布的内容里。
