Laos Set to Allow Validation of European Patents as National Patents

It has been announced that the European Patent Office (EPO) has signed an agreement with the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of Laos to enable European patents to be validated in Laos. Although a date has not yet been provided for the validation agreement entering into force, the announcement states that it will be in the “very near future”.

Laos will not be a member of the EPC, nor a so-called extension state. Instead, the validation agreement is a bilateral arrangement. Similar bilateral agreements are already in force enabling validation of European patents in Morocco, Moldova, Tunisia, Cambodia and Georgia.

The practical result of this announcement is that, once the agreement comes into force, it will be possible to cover up to 46 countries with a single European patent application. Although details have not yet been provided, we expect the Laos validation agreement to be similar in practice to the existing validation agreements with Morocco, Moldova, Tunisia, Cambodia and Georgia. Specifically, once the agreement has come into force, any applicant filing a European patent application (or a PCT application designating Europe) will be able to pursue protection in Laos by paying a validation fee for Laos to the EPO within the same period as for paying designation and extension fees.

The EPO's announcement can be seen here.