ALISTAIR HAMILTON
Chartered Patent Attorney
European Patent Attorney
Registered Trade Mark Attorney

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

NEWS

European Patent Convention Expands Eastwards

The area that can be covered by a European patent application continues to expand.  Several new member states in the East of Europe have joined the European patent system.  There are now twenty-five member states and five extension states.  (There is not a lot of difference between a member and an extension state in practice - it is a technical distinction.)  Each extension state still has to be paid for separately, but once you pay for seven member states, you get them all.

The full list, kept fully up-to-date is available from the website of the website of the EPO at http://www.european-patent-office.org/epo/members.htm

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