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Expired European patentEurope

A method of and an apparatus for picking up an image of the surface of an object to be inspected

EP 0532259 B1 · Applicant: IKEGAMI TSUSHINKI CO., LTD.

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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.

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Why it's free to use

  • Filed September 8, 1992 and granted May 19, 1999. A European patent lasts at most 20 years from filing, so its term ended September 8, 2012.
  • 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 8, 2018.
  • 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 8, 1992
PublishedMarch 17, 1993
GrantedMay 19, 1999
Term endedSeptember 8, 2012
Application numberEP 92308110
Classification (CPC)G01N21/9508

Timeline

Timeline From EPO dates

1993199519971999200120032005200720092011Application filedSep 8, 1992PublishedMarch 17, 1993Patent grantedMay 19, 1999Term endedSep 8, 2012

Sources & verification

Official EPO records

Full published documentClaims, description and drawings as a PDF.EPOEuropean Patent RegisterProcedure, status, file inspection and legal events.EPOLinked open EP data recordThe bibliographic record this page is built from.EPO

Cross-check elsewhere

Google PatentsFull text, worldwide family, citing patents and legal events.patents.google.comEspacenetNational family members and their legal status.European Patent Office

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