The Republic of San Marino and the European Patent Office signed an agreement on national patent searches
19 November 2013The European Patent Office (EPO) and the Republic of San Marino have recently signed an agreement regarding national patent searches.
The signature, which has been hailed as a milestone in supporting and enhancing the intellectual property sector in the Republic of San Marino, will be in force on 1st January 2014.
Starting from said date, the EPO will carry out prior art searches on behalf of the Patent and Trademark Office of the Republic of San Marino (USBM) within nine months of the filing date of a patent application in San Marino.
Based on the outcome of such searches, the EPO will then issue a search report, indicating any relevant prior art, along with a relative written opinion on the patentability chances in light of the search report.
