The European Patent Office (EPO) Newsletter #1/2025, dated January 16, 2025, announces that Costa Rica is the first country in the Americas to sign a patent validation agreement with the EPO.

Under the agreement, a patent examined and granted by the EPO can be validated in Costa Rica without the need for a new examination by the National Patent Office, the body responsible for receiving and examining patent applications, among other things, while benefiting from the high technical standard of the examinations carried out by the EPO. Patents validated under this agreement will have the same effects and be subject to the same conditions as national patents examined by the national body.

For the signatory country, the agreement allows national body’s human resources to be freed up for the examination of local applications, which, unlike foreign applications, do not have examination results.

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