The Visegrad Patent Institute (VPI) is an intergovernmental organization for cooperation in the field of

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...

s, created by the national patent offices of the four Visegrad countries, namely the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

and

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

. The Agreement on the Visegrad Patent Institute (VPI Agreement) was signed in Bratislava on February 26, 2015. The Institute acts as an

International Searching Authority The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) is an international patent law treaty, concluded in 1970. It provides a unified procedure for filing patent applications to protect inventions in each of its contracting states. A patent application filed un ...

(ISA) and International Preliminary Examining Authorities (IPEA) under the

Patent Cooperation Treaty The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) is an international patent law treaty, concluded in 1970. It provides a unified procedure for filing patent applications to protect inventions in each of its contracting states. A patent application filed und ...

(PCT). According to Slovak Foreign Affairs Minister

Miroslav Lajčák Miroslav Lajčák (born 20 March 1963) is a Slovak politician and diplomat, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic. In addition, Lajčak also served as President of the United Nations General Assembly for the 72nd session ...

, the signature of the agreement on creating the Visegrad Patent Institute was an important milestone in the history of the

Visegrád Group The Visegrád Group (also known as the Visegrád Four, the V4, or the European Quartet) is a cultural and political alliance of four Central European countries: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. The alliance aims to advance co-op ...

, the alliance between Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.

References

External links

*{{official, http://www.vpi.int/index.php/en/ Intergovernmental organizations Patent offices International Searching and Preliminary Examining Authorities Foreign relations of the Czech Republic Foreign relations of Hungary Foreign relations of Poland Foreign relations of Slovakia Central Europe Czechoslovakia–Poland relations Czech Republic–Poland relations Czechoslovakia–Hungary relations Poland–Slovakia relations 2015 in Europe

See also

References

Further reading

External links