WSPatent | European Patent Convention (EPC)

A European Patent may be applied for the below mentioned states:
Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Spain, Finland, France, United Kingdom, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia (former Yugoslav Republic), Malta, Monaco, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Sweden, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, Cyprus.

Granted European Patents may be extended to:
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia.

If the United Kingdom is designated in a European Patent the patent protection can also be extended to Hong Kong.

Advantage of a European patent application:
The application is filed in one language only and the examination proceedings are carried out centrally in one language. The cost is thus substantially lower than in the case of a respective number of national applications.

For information about the national validation of a European Patent, please click here.

To the website of the
European Patent Office

Compare EPC and EU countries.

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