The European Patent Convention (EPC), signed on 5 October 1973 and which entered into force on 7 October 1977, established the European Patent Organization, headquartered in Munich. 34 States are currently Parties to the EPC and members of the European Patent Organization. As the executive organ of the European Patent Organization, the European Patent Office (EPO) grants European patents for the States Parties to the Convention.
Liechtenstein has been a State Party to the European Patent Convention (EPC)  since 1 April 1980 and therefore a member State of the European Patent Organization.
The European Patent Office is under the direction of its president, Alison Brimelow. The activities of the EPO are overseen by the Administrative Council of the Organization. The Administrative Council consists of delegates of the 34 States Parties. Esther Schindler, Diplomatic officer of the Office for Foreign Affairs, has been the representative of Liechtenstein in the Administrative Council.
The EPO with headquarters in Munich and offices in The Hague, Berlin, and Vienna is financially completely self-sufficient and administratively largely independent. Its budget is funded by the procedural fees and part of the annual fees for European patents granted. The pension system of the almost 6,000 staff members is also funded by these revenues.
The responsibility of the EPO is to grant European patents according to a uniform and centralized procedure. In 2007, the EPO received about 218,000 applications. Epoline, the EPO e-service system, enables online applications of European patents. The total number of patents granted in 2007 was about 54700.
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