The European Patent Office and the State Agency on Intellectual Property of the Republic of Moldova have signed an extension agreement on October 16, 2013, which allows European patent applications and patents to take legal effect in Moldova.   This extension agreement has entered into force on November 1, 2015. Extension for the Republic of Moldova is available for any European or international application filed on or after 1 November 2015. It is not available for applications filed prior to that date, or for any European patents resulting from such applications.   Now one single EP patent application can cover the 38 EPO member states and four extension states: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Morocco and Moldova.   European applications and patents extended to Moldova have the same effects as Moldavian patents and are subject to Moldavian patent law.   Extension to the Republic of Moldova is obtained at the applicant's request. The Republic of Moldova as an extension state is now mentioned on the request for grant form (EPO 1001) and the form for entry into the European phase (EPO 1200).   The extension fee for European patent applications validated for Moldova is 200 EUR. It must be paid to the EPO within six months of the date on which the European Patent Bulletin mentions the publication of the European search report, or, where applicable, within the period for performing the acts required for an international application's entry into the European phase.   While further processing is available in case the payment of the validation fee has been omitted, re-establishment is not possible.   More information can be found on EPO website:  http://www.epo.org/law-practice/legal-texts/official-journal/2015/10/a85.html  http://www.epo.org/law-practice/legal-texts/official-journal/2015/02/a19.html   Contact : Oliver Tischner.   This IP Alert is for information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. 