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Latvia joins the European Patent Organisation as its 31st member state
Munich, 1 July 2005 - The European patent system continues to grow. With the accession of Latvia to the European Patent Convention, the European Patent Organisation now has 31 member states. In addition, five "extension states" – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia – also recognise European patent applications and patents on their territory. So European patents now cover 36 countries, comprising a market of more than 560 million people.
The Organisation's dynamic growth underlines the importance of the European patent system for the European economy. According to the President of the European Patent Office (EPO), Professor Alain Pompidou, "European patents play a central role in implementing the Lisbon strategy; they help in building up a knowledge-based society in Europe. Enlargement of the European Patent Organisation further strengthens that process".
The EPO operates a centralised procedure for granting European patents valid in the Organisation's member states. Set up in 1977, it has headquarters in Munich, a large branch at The Hague, and smaller sub-offices in Berlin and Vienna. Together, they employ over 6 000 people. In 2004, the EPO received just under 180 000 patent applications.