[Patents] Re: EPO patent on distributing cooking recipes in a supermarket

[PILCH Hartmut phm@openecs.org]

> A few discreet enquiries have revealed that EP-870264 is a pending 
> application and not a patent.

Under

        http://ep.espacenet.com/epacenet/ep/en/
        Search in European (EP) patents

you will find EP-870264.  EP = European Patent. The fact that it has an EP
number and a publication date and that it appears in this database makes
it look like a granted patent.  Perhaps subject to an opposition
procedure, but nevertheless granted. However in the PDF file you find only
a PCT description, not an EP patent description.  The Patent Cooperation
Treaty (PCT) however is a system for simplified international application
of which the EPO is a member. Thus, at least for anyone like me who is not
specialised in EPO procedures, this does not seem to change the status of
the patent.  

If nevertheless this is not a European Patent, then Espacenet and the EPO
seem to be fooling the public by putting it into this "Search in European
(EP) Patents" database.  Or is this search mask intended only for European
Patent Attorneys who have been specially trained to understand the cryptic
language of the EPO?

If I am getting all this wrong, could you please supply some clear method
of distinguishing what is a European Patent and what not, especially in
the case of PCT filings like the above?  How can a user of the
EPO/Espacent website limit his search for valid patents and sort out what
you call "all kinds of garbage that is being applied for"?

-phm