https://www.epo.org/en/legal/extension-validation-system

Extension / validation system

Between 1993 and 2009 the European Patent Organisation signed co-operation and European patent extension agreements with a number of European states that are (or at the time were) not party to the EPC ("extension agreements").

Since 2010, it has concluded further agreements providing for European patents to have effect in non-contracting states ("validation agreements"). However, these validation agreements are not limited to European countries.

Applicants for a European patent have a simple and cost-effective way of obtaining patent protection in such countries. If an applicant submits a request for extension/validation and pays the extension/validation fee(s) in due time, European patent applications (direct and Euro-PCT filings) and patents can be extended to/validated in these countries, where they will in principle have the same effect as national applications and patents, will be subject to national law and will enjoy essentially the same protection as patents that the EPO grants for EPC contracting states.

The extension and validation systems are largely the same as the designation system for contracting states. For example, the period for payment of the extension/validation fee is the same as the period for payment of the designation fee. However, the extension and validation systems are based not on direct application of the EPC but solely on the relevant national law modelled on the EPC. Hence they are subject to the national extension/validation rules of the country concerned.

For more information on extension/validation system, please refer to the guidelines for examination:

Extension and validation of European patent applications and patents to States not party to the EPC (Guidelines for Examination A-III, 12)

Extension

Currently, extension can be requested with effect for

Bosnia-Herzegovina

Please note that the extension system remains applicable to European and international patent applications filed before termination of the relevant agreement and to European patents granted on the basis of such applications. For the complete list of extension agreements concluded by the European Patent Organisation, please refer to the relevant table.

For more information on the extension system, please refer to:

Extension of European patents to Slovenia (OJ 1994, 75)

Extension of European patents to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BA) (OJ 2004, 619)

Extension of European patents to Montenegro (ME) (OJ 2010, 10)

Notice from the European Patent Office dated 2 November 2009 concerning the re-introduction of a grace period for the payment of extension fees (OJ 2009, 603)