Mr. Soso Giorgadze Met with Mr. António Campinos, President of the European Patent Office (EPO)

Within the 66^th 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.