Mr. Soso Giorgadze Met with Mr. António Campinos, President of the European Patent Office (EPO)
July 09, 2025
Within the 66th
Series of Meetings of the Assemblies of Member States of the World Intellectual
Property Organization (WIPO), Mr. António Campinos, President of the European
Patent Office (EPO), held a business lunch and hosted Mr. Soso Giorgadze,
Chairman of Sakpatenti, and Ms. Nino Chikovani, Deputy Chairperson, along with
other honourable guests. The event was intended for the
heads of the Intellectual Property Offices of the partner countries with which
the EPO has signed an Agreement on Validation of European Patents.
In
this format, Mr. Soso Giorgadze, Chairman of Sakpatenti, and Mr. António Campinos, EPO President,
discussed the issues envisaged by the Action Plan on Bilateral Cooperation and
the results achieved in this direction.
During
the meeting, Mr. Soso Giorgadze focused attention on the importance of launching
of the validation system, which provides for patent protection in Georgia in
accordance with the level of protection existing in the European countries.
After the entry into force of the Agreement between the
Government of Georgia and the European Patent Organisation on Validation of
European Patents, since January 15 of last year, validation has been requested
in Georgia for 32 applications and the growing trend of requests is observable.
In particular, in 2024, 11 applications were received, and by June 2025 – 21
applications. In addition, a
patent has recently been granted at the EPO for an application for which
validation was requested in Georgia. As
a result of the software updating of Sakpatenti electronic filing system, which
has been implemented since 2024, data exchange with the EPO has improved,
including on patents registered in Georgia.
Along
with this, Mr. Soso Giorgadze highlighted the EPO’s support in the reform of
patent attorneys in Georgia, which was implemented with the aim of
strengthening the patent attorneys system and increasing the importance of this
institution. The reform of
patent attorneys was carried out on the initiative of Sakpatenti, as a result
of which, the Law “On Patent Attorneys of Georgia” was adopted for the first
time in Georgia. The Law regulates the legal foundations and standards of patent
attorneys activity in accordance with the international best practices.
The
Chairman of Sakpatenti also draw attention to the priority issue for Sakpatenti
to join the European Patent Organisation and noted that Georgia is currently
preparing to send a letter of intent, which is the first official stage of the
process of accession to the European Patent Convention (EPC).
Mr.
Soso Giorgadze thanked Mr. António Campinos for his assistance
in the work and expressed readiness to conduct the process of Georgia’s
integration into the European Patent Organisation with the support and direct
involvement of the EPO.



