MILAN - New regulations concerning the filing of national patent applications are bound to be introduced allowing applications filed in Italy to acquire a strengthened importance, a press release by the Italian Patent and Trademark Office stated.
The agreement established between the European Patent Office (EPO) and the Italian Patent and Trademark Office (UIBM), which was approved on December 12 last year by EPO Board of Directors, will come into force on July 1, 2008.
Under this agreement, as already foreseen in other European countries, a search report for national patent applications filed in Italy will be issued.
The agreement between the EPO and the UIBM may be summarized as follows:
• The UIBM shall provide the EPO with the patent application’s text, as well as translation of claims into English;
• The EPO shall produce and transmit the search report to the UIBM, with relevant written opinion about patentability.