Article 105

EUROPEAN PATENT OFFICE

Information from the EPO

Validation of European patents in Georgia (GE) with effect from 15 January 2024

1. On 31 October 2019, the President of the European Patent Office and the Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, signed an agreement on the validation of European patents (validation agreement). On 2 June 2023, the revised Patent Law of Georgia1 entered into force, following the publication of the amendments in the official gazette of Georgia on 1 June 2023. These changes to the country's industrial property legislation have created the legal basis necessary for the validation system to operate.

2. This agreement enters into force on 15 January 2024. From that date it will be possible to validate European patent applications and patents in Georgia, where, after validation, they will confer essentially the same protection as patents granted by the EPO for the now 39 member states of the European Patent Organisation.

3. Validation in Georgia is mainly governed by Articles 75² to 75⁴ of the Patent Law of Georgia.

4. Validation in Georgia occurs at the applicant's request.

4.1 Validation for Georgia is deemed requested for any European or international application filed on or after 15 January 2024. It is not available for applications filed prior to that date, or for any European patents resulting from such applications.

4.2 The validation fee is EUR 200.2 It must be paid to the EPO within six months of the date on which the European Patent Bulletin mentions the publication of the European search report, or, where applicable, within the period for performing the acts required for an international application's entry into the European phase.

4.3 After expiry of the relevant basic time limit, the validation fee can still be validly paid within a two-month grace period, provided that within that period a surcharge of 50% is also paid.3If the designation fee has not been paid and further processing is available, the validation fee can still be paid along with the further processing concerning the designation fee. If the validation fee is not paid in due time, the request for validation is deemed withdrawn.4

5. A selection option for Georgia as a validation state will be included in the EPO's online filing tools,5 i.e. the request for grant of a European patent (EPO Form 1001E), and the request for entry into the European phase (EPO Form 1200E) and available to applicants as of 15 January 2024. The corresponding updated paper forms will be available on the EPO website as of the same date.

6. Further information about validating European patent applications and patents in Georgia will be published in the EPO's Official Journal and then incorporated into its brochure on "National law relating to the EPC"6 once the validation agreement with Georgia has entered into force.