More and more foreign applicants show interest in validation of European patents in Moldova. In all, 15 legal entities, of those who had filed a patent application with the European Patent Office (EPO) and checked that also want to validate their patents in the Republic of Moldova, have already paid the validation fee.

Thus, the payment covers five applicants from Germany, three from Italy, two from the United States and one applicant from the Czech Republic, Virgin Islands (British), China, Slovakia and France. Information on applications for which the validation fees were paid can be accessed in the AGEPI Database of Inventions, in the compartment Validated European Patents.

The areas covered by the applications of foreign applicants are: constructions, performing operations, mechanical engineering, chemistry and metallurgy, physics and human necessities.

Data on each application for validation, after the payment of the validation fee, are published by the State Agency on Intellectual Property (AGEPI) and entered in the National Register of Patent Applications.

To date, AGEPI published data on 12 applications in the Official Bulletin of Intellectual Property, data on 3 more applications are to be published in BOPI in late March.

The first European patent application, for which validation in the Republic of Moldova was sought, was filed on November 30, 2016.

Foreign applicants can validate the European patent applications and European patents in the Republic of Moldova since 1 November 2015 following the entry into force of the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Moldova and the EPO on Validation of European Patents.

Thus, European patents have the same rights and legal protection as national patents issued in the Republic of Moldova.

The system of validation of European patents will contribute to substantially increase the degree of confidence of foreign investors in the capacity of legislation and technical and administrative infrastructure in the Republic of Moldova to protect their investments, including by the high degree of protection and enforcement of industrial property rights.

After the entry into force of the Agreement, Moldova became the 42nd country in which patent protection can be obtained simultaneously with a single European patent application filed with the European Patent Office.