Article 1

1. The courts of the Contracting States shall, in accordance with Articles 2 to 6 have jurisdiction to decide claims, against the applicant, to the right to the grant of a European patent in respect of one or more of the Contracting States designated in the European patent application.

2. For the purposes of this Protocol, the term “courts” shall include authorities which, under the national law of a Contracting State, have jurisdiction to decide the claims referred to in paragraph 1. Any Contracting State shall notify the European Patent Office of the identity of any authority on which such a jurisdiction is conferred, and the European Patent Office shall inform the other Contracting States accordingly.

3. For the purposes of this Protocol, the term “Contracting State” refers to a Contracting State which has not excluded application of this Protocol pursuant to Article 167[deleted] of the Convention.