The opening of the European Patent to non-member states – which officially started on 1 March 2015 with the entry into force of the validation agreement concluded between the European Patent Office (EPO) and Morocco – is continuing. A new validation agreement, this time with the Republic of Moldova (MD) entered into force on 1 November 2015.
After the necessary amendments in the Moldovan legislation relating to industrial property, the validation agreement, which was signed on 16 October 2013 between the President of the EPO and the Director General of the State Agency on Intellectual Property of the Republic of Moldova, could be definitively established. It entered into force on 1 November.
According to this agreement, any European patent application filed on or after 1 November 2015, either by the direct route or via a PCT application can be effective in the Republic of Moldova.
Just as for the validation of a European patent in Morocco, the steps to take before the EPO are similar to those that an applicant must take for the Extension States (currently Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina), namely to pay a validation fee within 6 months from the publication of the European search report.
Contrary to the validation in Morocco for which the validation fee amounts to EUR 240.00, the validation fee for the Republic of Moldova amounts to EUR 200.00.
Moreover, unlike the validation agreement signed between the President of the EPO and the Moroccan Minister of Industry which has not been made public, the validation agreement with the Republic of Moldova is available on the
EPO1 website, giving an idea of the conditions under which the European patent will take effect.
Regarding the important question of the necessary translations for the European patent to be effective in the Republic of Moldova, it will be necessary to file a full translation into Moldovan of the European Patent specifications before the State Agency on Intellectual Property of the Republic of Moldova (AGEPI).
This translation must be submitted within three months of the date of publication of the mention of the grant of the European patent and be accompanied by the payment of a prescribed publication fee, the amount of which is not yet known.
Subject to having completed these formalities, the validated European patent will be accorded the same rights as those of a National patent granted under the Moldovan law relative to the protection of inventions.
It should be noted that the published European patent application provides the same provisional protection as that afforded to a published National patent application, from the date on which the translation into Moldovan of the claims of the published European patent application has been made accessible to the public by the AGEPI.
After Morocco, the Republic of Moldova becomes the second State to authorise the validation of a European patent. These two States will certainly soon be joined by Tunisia with which a validation agreement was signed on 3 July 2014.
