Aspects of European patent validation in the Georgian patent system

Abstract

The National Intellectual Property Center of Georgia Sakpatenti is a governmental agency – a legal entity of public law. In accordance with the Georgian legislation, Sakpatenti determines the policy in the field of intellectual property.A major tool for protection of intellectual property rights outside Georgia is the full integration of the country into the global IP systems, which became a priority policy direction for Sakpatenti. At present Georgia is a member of all main conventions and agreements on intellectual property protection and is a party to a number of bilateral international treaties.The scientific article consists of an introduction, a main part and a conclusion. The introduction presents the urgency of the legal problem. The main part discusses the issues of European patent validation, which should be implemented in the Patent Law of Georgia. Under the Validation Agreement, applicants will be able to validate their European patent applications and patents granted by the European Patent Office in Georgia, even though Georgia is not a contracting state to the European Patent Convention. European applications and patents validated in Georgia will have the same legal effect here as Georgian applications and patents. Along with this, legal actions will be regulated by the Georgian legislation.The European Patent Organisation (EPO) is a second largest organization in Europe rendering public services. EPO carries out examination of applications to obtain patents for inventions and grants European patents, its activities are directed tofacilitate development of innovations, competitiveness and economic growth in Europe, which is ensured by means of offering high level services according to the European Patent Convention. At present the European Patent Organisation (EPO) unites 38 countries, including all the 28 member states of the European Union and, in addition, some countries that are not the EU member states.