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January 1, 2008

Norway and Croatia acceded to the European Patent Convention (EPC)

Norway (NO) and Croatia (HR) acceded to the European Patent Convention (EPC) on 1 January 2008. The European Patent Organisation now comprises 34 member states, which can be designated in an application for a European patent (EP application). The member states of the EPC include all 27 member states of the European Union, plus Croatia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey.

In addition to the member states, a European patent application can also be extended to four other states, i.e. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Macedonia (the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia), which have made extension agreements with the European Patent Organisation. In these states, a European patent application gives the same patent protection as a national patent application provided that it has been requested at the time of filing a European patent application.

In other words, at present there are in total 38 states that can be covered by one European patent application. The list of EPC member countries can be found from: http://www.epo.org/about-us/epo/member-states.html.

Our patent attorneys will also be pleased to answer your questions.