National courtsObservations & Oppositions builder

National revocation of a European patent

Art. 138 EPC with national law

An action in one state's court to revoke that state's part of a European patent. Art. 138 EPC caps the grounds; national law supplies the court, the form, the language and the fee.

Start an invalidity search How IPtorch builds it
Court National court 1. Claim form 2. Grounds of invalidity 3. Claim chart 4. Exhibit D1 5. Exhibit D2 Claim Grounds Chart D1 D2 Unsigned draft
Pleading, chart and exhibits in one unsigned bundle.

At a glance

No fixed deadline in most states

UK GBP 663, NL EUR 735, FR EUR 50 (checked 22 Sep 2026)

Who can file
Any person in the UK, the Netherlands and France. Turkiye requires an interest. The entitlement ground only by the person entitled.
Deadline
None in the UK, the Netherlands or France. Spain and Turkiye: five years after lapse. UK entitlement ground: two years from grant.
Official fee
UK GBP 663 on issue; NL EUR 735 (EUR 341 for individuals) plus EUR 27 per patent registered; FR EUR 50.
Language
The forum's language only: English in the UK, Dutch in the Netherlands, French in France.
Anonymous
No. A straw man is generally permitted, but is named.
Representation
UK: none required, a solicitor is usual. Netherlands and France: a lawyer admitted there (advocaat, avocat).
How it is filed
UK: claim issued through CE-File. NL: VRO application, then a writ served by bailiff. FR: served writ placed with the court through RPVA.
Effect
Revocation from the outset for that state only (Art. 68 EPC). Other states' parts are untouched.

What it is

National revocation of a European patent, in brief

Art. 138 EPC lists the only grounds on which a national part may be revoked, but gives no cause of action: each state's own statute does. The profile builds four forums in full: the UK Patents Court, the UK Intellectual Property Enterprise Court, the Rechtbank Den Haag under the accelerated VRO regime, and the Tribunal judiciaire de Paris.

Spain, Poland, Turkiye, the UK Comptroller and the ordinary Dutch route are covered in outline only, for national counsel to run. The German part is a separate filing, a nullity action at the Federal Patent Court. Revocation runs from the outset in that one state only.

Grounds it can carry

  • Lack of noveltyArt. 138(1)(a) with Arts. 52 and 54 EPC, as implemented
  • Lack of inventive stepArt. 138(1)(a) with Arts. 52 and 56 EPC, as implemented
  • Excluded subject-matter or no industrial applicationArt. 138(1)(a) with Arts. 52, 53 and 57 EPC
  • InsufficiencyArt. 138(1)(b) EPC
  • Added matter or extended protectionArt. 138(1)(c) and (d) EPC
  • National prior rightArt. 139(2) EPC, as implemented

Use it when

  • The national part is in a non-UPC state, such as the UK, Spain, Poland or Turkiye.
  • The patent is opted out of the UPC; filing nationally then locks the opt-out in (Art. 83(4) UPCA).
  • A national infringement action already exists and validity belongs in that system.

Choose another route when

  • The patent was granted less than nine months ago: an EPO opposition reaches every designated state for EUR 880. Notice of opposition
  • The patent is not opted out and every target state is a UPC state: one EUR 26,500 action is cheaper. Revocation action
  • The target is the German part: that is a nullity action at the Federal Patent Court. Nullity action

How IPtorch builds it

From search to filing, minus the signature.

The invalidity search runs on into this filing when it ends, with no second click. Three model families take turns, so a draft is never checked by the model that wrote it.

  1. 1SearchClaims split into limitations, thousands of candidates screened, at least 50 references read in full.Gemini models read and check
  2. 2Claim mapA verbatim quotation and its location behind every limitation.Every cell checkable
  3. 3DraftWrites the papers in the office's format and language.Claude Opus 5.5 (Anthropic)
  4. 4ReviewChecks each citation against its document and builds the forms.Sol 6 (OpenAI)
  5. 5AdjudicateHigh strength: a third family rules on every objection.Gemini 3.1 Pro (Google)
  6. 6FolderUnsigned PDFs, ready for a professional to review, sign and file.Nothing is filed

What the builder does for this filing

  • It refuses the job before any spend if the claimant's name and address are missing, then routes to one country branch; it never produces a generic European pleading.
  • It pleads the national cause of action (s.72 Patents Act 1977, Art. 75 ROW or Art. L.614-12 CPI) and cites Art. 138 EPC only as the ceiling on grounds.
  • It starts from an invalidity search with at least 50 references read in full, re-qualifies each reference under the forum's prior-art rule, and pleads each ground separately with full citation, date and proof of public availability.
  • It checks that the defendant is the proprietor on the national register, prices the UPC route where it is available, and flags the opt-out lock before a national filing.

In the folder

  • Forum selection noteInternal: branch, prerequisites, UPC price comparison, opt-out lock
  • UK: N1 data, Particulars of Claim, Grounds of InvalidityGrounds separate in the Patents Court, inside the Particulars in IPEC
  • UK: Comptroller notice and index of documents servedCPR 63.14(3) email and every document the Grounds cite
  • NL: VRO application, draft writ, register requestIn Dutch, writ within 18,000 words, with the productions deed
  • FR: writ of summons (assignation)In French, for the Tribunal judiciaire de Paris
  • Copies of every cited documentServed with the pleadings, numbered in the forum's style
  • Labelled machine translationsBeside the original, into the forum's language

Builder strength

You choose how hard it is checked.

You pay for the tokens the sessions use, at the models' list prices plus a 30% fee, not for the time allowed. How pricing works

Low

40 minutesabout 10 million tokens (roughly $10 to $30)

  1. Opus 5.5 drafts the submission
  2. Sol 6 builds and checks the final forms

Medium

2 hoursabout 20 million tokens (roughly $20 to $60)

  1. Opus 5.5 drafts the submission
  2. Sol 6 reviews and rebuilds the content
  3. Opus 5.5 builds the filing folder
  4. Sol 6 checks the form

High

5 to 6 hoursabout 60 million tokens (roughly $50 to $200)

  1. Opus 5.5 drafts the submission
  2. Sol 6 runs a deep prior-art search
  3. Opus 5.5 rebuilds the submission against the evidence
  4. Sol 6 attacks it as an adversarial examiner
  5. Gemini 3.1 Pro adjudicates the objections
  6. Opus 5.5 applies the fixes and builds the filing folder
  7. Scripted checks of the filing folder
  8. Sol 6 audits the whole folder
  9. Convergence gate

If the gate fails, one repair round: opus 5.5 repairs what the gate found, sol 6 audits the repair, convergence gate, again.

What stays with you

You review, sign and file.

  • UK: an officer or solicitor signs the statements of truth; the solicitor issues and pays through CE-File.
  • NL: the advocaat signs and lodges the VRO application; a bailiff serves the writ.
  • FR: the avocat obtains the hearing date and places the served writ through RPVA.
  • Experts and witnesses sign their own statements.

Where these go wrong

What the builder guards against.

  • Pleading Art. 138 EPC as if it were the cause of action: it only caps the grounds, and the national statute founds the claim.
  • Naming the defendant from the EPO register instead of the national register, where the proprietor may differ.

More filings in Europe

EPO, UPC and national courts

All 17 filings

Start with the evidence.

Upload the patent or enter its number. The invalidity search charts every claim, and the builder takes it from there.

Start an invalidity search

Facts checked against the office's rules on 22 September 2026. IPtorch is not a law firm and this page is not legal advice. The builder's output is unsigned work product for a registered professional to review, sign and file; nothing is filed and no fee is paid for you. Confirm current requirements, fees and deadlines with the receiving office.