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, Serbia, Sweden, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, Cyprus.

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

Granted European Patents may also be validated in:
Morocco, in the Republic of Moldova, in Tunisia and in Cambodia.

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

Advantage and disadvantage of a European patent application:
The application is filed in one language only and the examination proceedings are carried out centrally in one language. In an ideal case the costs can thus be substantially lower than in the case of a respective number of national applications. However, in some EPC member states a European Patent needs to be validated and/or translated after grant.
It is thus recommendable to consider in each individual case whether a filing of national applications in strategically selected European states could be more advantageous.

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.

[ WSPatent homepage ]

[ close window ]