1. Accession to the EPC

On 28 October 2008, the Government of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (MK) deposited its instrument of accession to the European Patent Convention (EPC).

The EPC will accordingly enter into force for the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia on 1 January 2009.

The European Patent Organisation will thus comprise the following 35 member states as from 1 January 2009:

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

Further

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"[...] Efforts to break the logjam over a so-called 'community patent' - a single intellectual property right which would give a holder protection in all 27 EU countries - have gathered pace in recent months and are being pursued by the current Slovenian presidency. [...] The last effort to launch a community patent had to be abandoned in 2003, because countries were unable to agree on a language regime for the new IP right. But under proposals being hammered out in Brussels, officials hope to offer countries the option of machine-based translation, which could convert a patent into all 23 official EU languages for minimal cost in a matter of minutes. Officials say that this would cost only a few million euros to set up, and allow equal

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