Serbia to join EPO on October 1

On July 15, 2010, Serbia deposited its instrument of accession to the European Patent Convention (EPC) and will become the European Patent Organization’s (EPO) 38th member state on October 1, 2010.

Serbia will be designated as a Contracting State in European patent applications filed on or after October 1, but it will not be possible to designate Serbia retroactively in applications filed before that date. However, on European patent applications filed in September 2010, the EPO will be able to enter the filing date of October 1, 2010, upon the applicant’s request.

Serbian nationals and residents will also be able to file international applications under the Patent Co-operation Treaty (PCT) with the EPO from October 1.

It has been possible to extend European Patents to Serbia since November 1, 2004, after Serbia signed the Co-operation and Extension Agreement with the EPO. The extension agreement will terminate once the EPC enters into force.

On a different subject, the Strasbourg Agreement Concerning the International Patent Classification, also known as the IPC Agreement, establishing a common classification system, entered into force for Serbia, the 61st Contracting State, on July 15, 2010. The law ratifying the agreement entered into force in Serbia on June 10, 2009.

For more information, please contact Jelena Jankovic at our Balkan Regional Office.

Source: EPO, Serbian IPO