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National patent offices in Europe may be left struggling to survive after the
European Patent Office throws open its doors to former Eastern bloc countries
from 1 July 2002. Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Estonia, Slovakia,
Slovenia, Romania and Bulgaria will then be able to join the European Union
member states in a common European patenting scheme. EPO president Ingo Kober
says this will boost Europe’s world standing in patents, and encourage inventors
from all round the world to file inventions through the EPO in
Munich—instead of using their national patent offices.