The Visegrad Patent Institute (VPI) is an intergovernmental organization for cooperation in the field of patents, created by the national patent offices of the four Visegrad countries, namely the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. The Agreement on the Visegrad Patent Institute (VPI Agreement) was signed in Bratislava on February 26, 2015. The Institute aims at operating as an International Searching Authority (ISA) and International Preliminary Examining Authorities (IPEA) under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) as from July 1, 2016.
According to Slovak Foreign Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajčák, the signature of the agreement on creating the Visegrad Patent Institute is an important milestone in the history of the Visegrad Four, the alliance between Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.