International protection

Patent protection is obtained on the territorial principle, being valid only on the territory of the country in which such right has been granted. Therefore the patents granted by the Office to domestic and international applicants are valid only on the territory of the Republic of Croatia.

Patent protection on territories of other countries may be obtained as follows:

  • By filing single application to the competent office of each country on which territory protection  is required,
  • By filing a uniform international application under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) for the contracting states,
  • With one of the regional patent systems – for member states of the European patent organisation and current extension states – filing an application for the European patent with one of the competent offices of the EPO.

International and regional patent systems enable filing one application for invention at one location having contemporaneous legal effect in several countries.

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