Agreement on Validation of European Patents in Moldova
Agreement between the Government of Moldova and the European Patent Organization on the validation of European patents came into force from November 1, 2015.
Kharkov, Ukraine, November 19, 2015 (Newswire.com) - Such announcement was made by the Director General of the State Agency on Intellectual Property of the Republic of Moldova (AGEPI) and President of the European Patent Organization (EPO) during a bilateral meeting held on October 7, 2015 in Geneva, Switzerland.
According to the Agreement starting from November 1, 2015 foreign applicants are able to validate the European patents in Moldova and have the same rights and legal protection as conferred by national patents issued in Moldova. Validation will be available only for European patent applications filed on or after November 1, 2015 and will not be available for patent applications with the earlier filing date.
Moldova will become the 42nd country in which patent protection can be achieved simultaneously through a single European patent application. Currently there are 38 states that are full members of the European Patent Organization, 2 countries Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro that have bilateral agreements in recognition of the effect the European patent as a pre-accession to EPO as well as Morocco, with which the EPO has a validation agreement. Moldova will become neither a member of the EPC nor an extension state, but have a similar bilateral validation agreement as EPO signed with Morocco. Thus, for requesting validation in Moldova it will be necessary to pay the corresponding validation fee within the same period as for paying designation and extension fees.
