ARTICLE
20 November 2019

Georgia Set To Allow Validation Of European Patents As National Patents

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J A Kemp LLP

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J A Kemp is a leading firm of European Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys. We combine independent thinking with collective excellence in all that we do. The technical and legal knowledge that we apply to the protection of our clients’ patents is outstanding in its breadth and depth. With around 100 science and technology graduates in the firm, including 50 PhDs, no area of science or technology is outside our scope. Our Patent Attorneys have collective in-depth expertise in patent law and procedure in every country of the world. The team of professionals who advise our clients on trade mark and design matters have backgrounds in major international law firms and hold qualifications as Chartered UK Trade Mark Attorneys, Solicitors and European Trade Mark Professional Representatives. Dedicated to this specialist area of intellectual property protection, the team has the expertise and resources to protect trade marks and designs in any market worldwide.
It has been announced that the European Patent Office (EPO) has signed an agreement with the government of Georgia to enable European patents to be validated in Georgia.
European Union Intellectual Property

It has been announced that the European Patent Office (EPO) has signed an agreement with the government of Georgia to enable European patents to be validated in Georgia.  The validation agreement will enter into force once it has been adopted into Georgian law.  A date for this has not yet been provided.

Georgia will not be a member of the EPC, nor a so-called extension state. Instead, the validation agreement is a bilateral arrangement between the EPO and the government of Georgia. Similar bilateral agreements are already in force enabling validation of European patents in Morocco, Moldova, Tunisia and Cambodia.

The practical result of this announcement is that, once the agreement comes into force, it will be possible to cover up to 45 countries with a single European patent application.  Although details have not yet been provided, we expect the Georgian validation agreement to be similar in practice to the existing validation agreements with Morocco, Moldova, Tunisia and Cambodia.  Specifically, once the agreement has come into force, any applicant filing a European patent application (or a PCT application designating Europe) will be able to pursue protection in Georgia by paying a validation fee for Georgia to the EPO within the same period as for paying designation and extension fees.

The EPO's announcement can be seen here.

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