Revealing the differences between the EU and European countries

As one of the most open markets in the world, the European market attracts the attention of entrepreneurs from all over the world with its strong consumption power and open market environment. When a large number of similar products are circulated in the market at the same time, many intellectual property disputes such as patent infringement will inevitably arise. In order to protect their own rights and interests, more and more companies choose to apply for patents in Europe before their products are launched on the market.

Compared with applying for patents in each country individually, more customers choose to apply for "EU Design Patent" and "European Patent (Invention)". Through these two methods, you can obtain protection in multiple countries by filing a single patent application, which not only saves a lot of time required for patent applications, but also greatly reduces the cost of patent protection.

Here, Page Code reminds you that although one protects appearance and the other protects invention, the scope of protection of the European Union Intellectual Property Office is not the same as the scope of protection of the European Intellectual Property Office. The European Patent Organization (EPO) is a patent organization with 38 member countries, plus 2 extension countries and 4 effective countries, basically covering more than 95% of European countries. However, the European Union Intellectual Property Office currently has only 27 member states. If the two are confused, it is easy to end up spending a lot of money to apply for an EU design patent but ultimately failing to safeguard their rights and interests in the target market.

If your product is for the countries in the red part in the picture below, you can apply for a European invention patent or an EU design patent. If it is for a green country, you need to make a separate application when applying for a design patent. You cannot Choose an EU design.

We hope that Yezhimaip’s sharing this time can help you choose a patent application in the European market. If you want to get more detailed information and quotations for patent applications in various countries, you are welcome to go to Yezhimaip’s official website (www.yezhimaip.com). .