Cambodia: Validation Agreement Enters into Force

The European Patent Office (EPO) announced in a recent press release that the agreement between the Royal Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia (KH) and the EPO on the validation of European patents was signed on January 23, 2017. With the recognition of the EPC, the Kingdom of Cambodia will become the first Asian country to give the same legal effects to a European patent as a national patent on its territory.

With the entry into force of the agreement, it is thus possible to obtain patent protection in the Cambodia by having a European patent granted by the European Patent Office. A national granting procedure in the Kingdom of Cambodia is no longer necessary. However, in order to validate the European patent in Cambodia , the payment of a so-called validation fee is necessary. The amount of the fee will be approximately EUR 200 and the due date for paying the validation fee expires 6 months starting from the notice of the publication of the European search report. For Euro-PCT applications the validation fee will be due at the time for entering of the application into the European phase before the EPO.

For the validation of the granted European patent in the Kingdom of Cambodia, a translation into Khmer language of the description, claims and figures of the European patent has to be filed with the Ministry of Industry & Handicraft (MIH) of Cambodia. Both, the translation and a publication fee are due within three months of the date on which the mention of the grant of the European patent is published.

Taking into account the current EPC contracting states, validation and extension states, including the Kingdom of Cambodia, a European patent can now provide patent protection in a total of 43 European and non-European countries.

Comments:

Since 2010, the EPO has signed validation agreements with four non-EPC member states (see table below).

It can be expected that validation agreements will be concluded with further non-European countries.

Country: Agreement: Signature date: Time of entry into force:
Morocco (MA) Agreement between the Government of the Kingdom of Morocco and the European Patent Organisation on validation of European patents December 17, 2010 March 1, 2015
Republic of Moldova (MD) Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Moldova and the European Patent Organisation on validation of European patents October 16, 2013 November 1, 2015
Tunisia (TN) Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Tunisia and the European Patent Organisation on Validation of European patents July 3, 2014 December 1, 2017
Kingdom of Cambodia (KH) Agreement between the Government of the Royal Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia and the European Patent Organisation on Validation of European patents January 23, 2017

Last time this table was updated: December 5, 2017.

Foto: © iwishmynamewasmarsha, [CC BY NC 2.0]

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One Response to Cambodia: Validation Agreement Enters into Force

  1. The agreement between the EPO and Tunisia is now in force.

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