Part 9. Acquisition of patent portfolios - Signatories
For all documents used for registering a change of ownership at the European Patent Office (EPO) it is very important that the officers involved are entitled to sign in the eyes of the EPO. Where the parties involved are legal entities a document may, in general, be signed by any person who is legally authorized to sign on behalf of that entity. Job titles that are without a doubt acceptable to the EPO are: director, CEO, president, vice president, company secretary.
This entitlement of a person signing on behalf of a legal entity is not checked by the EPO, except if EPO sees reason to assume that the person signing would not be authorized. That may happen if one or more signatories do not have a job title as afore-mentioned. To solve this deficiency the documents either need to be re-signed by someone else who can provide a job-title satisfactory for the EPO or evidence needs to be provided showing that the original signatory carries sufficient authority.
So check beforehand that official documents are signed by officers carrying titles that prove acceptable for EPO and save time and money on your way to official registration. Should you require assistance or advice, please
contact me at Patricia.rutten@aipex.eu.
Best regards,
Patricia Rutten
Manager IP Portfolio AIPEX
