Belgian Office for Intellectual Property

The Belgian Office for Intellectual Property (in French: Office de la Propriété intellectuelle or OPRI; in Dutch: Belgische Dienst voor de Intellectuele Eigendom, or DIE) is a Belgian government office to manage patent filing and rights. OPRI is based in Brussels,^[1] and is part of the Federal Public Service Economy.^[2]

OPRI coordinates with the European Patent Office and helps offer the Benelux Patent Platform.^[3] Inventors choose whether to have their patent cover Belgium or internationally.^[4] As of April 1, 2018, however, OPRI no longer receives patent applications under the global Patent Cooperation Treaty.

History and archives

Historic Belgian patent information was published in semi-annual volumes of the Recueil des Brevets d'Invention. Many of the original patent documents are in the Belgian National Archives 2 - Joseph Cuvelier Repository.^{[citation needed]}