The Convention on the Unification of Certain Points of Substantive Law on Patents for Invention, also called Strasbourg Convention or Strasbourg Patent Convention, is a multilateral treaty signed by Member States of the Council of Europe on November 27, 1963 in Strasbourg, France. It entered into force on August 1, 1980 and led to a significant harmonization of patent laws across European countries. This Convention establishes patentability criteria, i.e. specifies on which grounds inventions can be rejected as not patentable. Its intent was to harmonize substantive patent law but not procedural law. This Convention is quite different from the European Patent Convention (EPC), which establishes an independent system for granting European patents. The Strasbourg Convention has had a significant impact on the EPC, on national patent laws across Europe, on the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), on the Patent Law Treaty (PLT) and on the WTO's TRIPS. Ratifications and accessions Thirteen countries ratified the treaty or acceded to it: Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, the Republic of Macedonia, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, and United Kingdom. Further reading Christopher Wadlow, Strasbourg, the Forgotten Patent Convention, and the Origins of the European Patents Jurisdiction, IIC, 2010, Vol. 2, p. 123ff. See also Community patent International Patent Institute (IIB) List of Council of Europe treaties Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property Substantive Patent Law Treaty (SPLT) External links Official text of the Convention Dates of signatures, ratifications, accessions and entry into force Declarations and reservations European patent law Treaties concluded in 1963 Treaties entered into force in 1980 Patent law treaties Council of Europe treaties Treaties of Belgium Treaties of Denmark Treaties of France Treaties of West Germany Treaties of Ireland Treaties of Italy Treaties of Liechtenstein Treaties of Luxembourg Treaties of North Macedonia Treaties of the Netherlands Treaties of Sweden Treaties of Switzerland Treaties of the United Kingdom 1963 in France Treaties extended to the Netherlands Antilles Treaties extended to Aruba Treaties extended to Greenland Treaties extended to the Faroe Islands Treaties extended to Clipperton Island Treaties extended to French Guiana Treaties extended to French Polynesia Treaties extended to the French Southern and Antarctic Lands Treaties extended to Guadeloupe Treaties extended to Martinique Treaties extended to Mayotte Treaties extended to New Caledonia Treaties extended to Réunion Treaties extended to Saint Pierre and Miquelon Treaties extended to Wallis and Futuna