On September 28, 2016, Director General of the State Agency on Intellectual Property (AGEPI), Octavian Apostol and Ala Gusan, Head of the Patents Department AGEPI, participated in the Seminar “Implementation of the European Patent with Unitary Effect in Romania”, organized by the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks (OSIM) in cooperation with the European Patent Office (EPO).

The event was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Justice, business and academic environments, lawyers and numerous counselors in industrial property in Romania. There were present specialists from the European Patent Office and industrial property offices of Bulgaria, Slovenia, who presented their experiences in the implementation of the unitary patent in their countries.

In the seminar were discussed topical issues, including the current state of the unitary patent system, its implementation process in Romania, as well as the developments and prospects on the Unified Patent Court.

Sorana Baciu, State Secretary in the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Relations with the Business Environment mentioned that Romania was among Member States which participated actively in strengthening the unitary patent system, convinced that it will be an attractive tool for Romanian applicants and that will have a positive effect on innovation in Romania.

The European patent with unitary effect is a patent granted by the EPO under the European Patent Convention rules and procedures for which the owner can request unitary effect of protection across the 25 Member States of the European Union, in terms of advantageous fees.

The European patent with unitary effect, designed to be implemented in 2017, will provide its users an alternative to national patent and classic European patent. The creation of this system, based on normative acts issued by the European Commission will boost the competitiveness of industry and ensure economic growth.