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Expired European patentEurope

Electro-optic modulator and use of it

EP 0001745 B1 · Applicant: MERCK PATENT GmbH

EPO PDF

Overview

The published document from the EPO: abstract, claims, description and drawings. Open it full size

Read the whole patent

Listed from its EPO record in Patent Yard's archive of European patents past their term. Its claims, description and drawings are in the EPO PDF and on Google Patents, and the Claude kit works from them.

Why it's free to use

  • Filed September 19, 1978 and granted January 7, 1981. A European patent lasts at most 20 years from filing, so its term ended September 19, 1998.
  • A supplementary protection certificate, which can extend a medicine or crop-protection patent, adds at most five and a half years, so even that would have ended by March 19, 2004.
  • We check European rights only. A US or other national patent in its family could still be in force: check its family on Espacenet or Google Patents.
FiledSeptember 19, 1978
PublishedMay 16, 1979
GrantedJanuary 7, 1981
Term endedSeptember 19, 1998
Application numberEP 78100930
Classification (CPC)G02F1/13768

Timeline

Timeline From EPO dates

1979198119831985198719891991199319951997Application filedSep 19, 1978PublishedMay 16, 1979Patent grantedJan 7, 1981Term endedSep 19, 1998

Sources & verification