Albania becomes 37th member state of the EPO

Munich , 30 April 2010 -- Albania's parliament has approved the country's accession to the European Patent Convention and Albania will become a member of the European Patent Organisation on 1 May.

The other contracting states of the European Patent Organisation are all of the 27 EU member states plus Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Norway, San Marino, Switzerland and Turkey.

"We welcome Albania and are particularly pleased to have another country from Southeast Europe join our ranks," said Alison Brimelow, President of the European Patent Office (EPO), the executive arm of the European Patent Organisation.

Apart from the Organisation's members, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia also recognise European patent applications and patents on their territory on the basis of bilateral extension agreements with the European Patent Organisation. European patents are therefore now valid in 40 countries and reach a market of about 570 million people ─ making it the largest transnational patent system in the world.

"From seven founding states to 37 members today, the Organisation has proved a success story of international co-operation and European integration," Brimelow said. "Patents play a vital role in helping firms to be innovative and competitive, which is especially important in the current economic climate."

The EPO applies a centralised procedure to examine European patent applications for the Organisation's member states. Applicants can obtain patent protection in as many of the member and extension countries as they designate on the basis of a single application. Set up in 1977, the EPO has its headquarters in Munich with offices in The Hague, Berlin, Vienna and Brussels, and employs around 7 000 staff.

For more information, please contact:
Rainer Osterwalder
Press spokesman
+49(0) 89 2399-1820
+49(0) 163 8399527
press@epo.org