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Expired European patentEurope

Optical apparatus and method

EP 1017987 B1 · Applicant: THE HORTICULTURE AND FOOD RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF NEW ZEALAND LIMITED

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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 February 2, 1998 and granted June 15, 2005. A European patent lasts at most 20 years from filing, so its term ended February 2, 2018.
  • 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 August 2, 2023.
  • 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.
FiledFebruary 2, 1998
PublishedJuly 12, 2000
GrantedJune 15, 2005
Term endedFebruary 2, 2018
Application numberEP 98901601
Classification (CPC)G02B5/04 +1 more

Timeline

Timeline From EPO dates

1999200120032005200720092011201320152017Application filedFeb 2, 1998PublishedJuly 12, 2000Patent grantedJune 15, 2005Term endedFeb 2, 2018

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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