Types of Patent Protection in Europe
A characteristic of European patent law as it stands today is that European patents granted by the European Patent Office (EPO), and patents granted by national patent offices are available and may co-exist within a given jurisdiction. Utility models, referred to as "Gebrauchsmuster" in Germany and Austria, are available in some countries.
Patent applications can be filed at the relevant national patent office or at the European Patent Office. Alternatively, an international application may be filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) and later nationalised in the desired countries or at the EPO. However, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Malta, Monaco, the Netherlands, and Slovenia have "closed their national route" meaning that it is no longer possible to nationalise an international application in those countries directly and protection can only be obtained via the EPO.
Read more about this topic: European Patent Law
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