|
| European Patent Convention (EPC)
London Agreement
to come into force on May 1st, 2008
France deposited the instrument of ratification with the German Foreign Ministry on January 29th. France is the latest contracting state of the European Patent Convention (EPC) to ratify the agreement, and its ratification - together with that of seven other contracting states - was a condition for the agreement’s entry into force. The London Agreement is an attempt to reduce post-grant translation costs of European Patents.
| Present Situation
According to Art. 65 (1) EPC, EPC member states can prescribe that the specification of a granted European patent validated in that member state is to be translated into an official language of that state. Up to now, all EPC member states prescribe that such a translation is filed in order to validate the European patent.
| Status of Ratification
Up to now, 13 out of 34 members of the EPO have ratified the London Agreement. These are: Croatia, Denmark, Latvia, the Netherlands, France, Liechtenstein, Slovenia, Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Iceland, Monaco and the United Kingdom. Additionally, Sweden has implemented the agreement into national patent law. It is likely that the London Agreement will also come into force for Sweden starting from May 1st, 2008.
| New translation requirements
The London Agreement distinguishes between two types of participating states. A first group is defined by states sharing an official language with one of the three official languages of the European Patent Organisation, namely English, French and German. A second group comprises states that have no official language in common with the EPO. Therefore, the following regulations apply:
Group I: States sharing an official language with the EPO will entirely dispense with translation requirements (Article 1(1) of the London Agreement). These states are (according to the present status of ratification) France, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. In these states, a translation of the European patent will no longer have to be supplied. National fees for publication of the translations will consequently be eliminated in these countries.
zum Seitenanfang
Group II: States that share no official language with the EPO have the right to still demand a translation of the claims of the European patent into their national language. States which acceded to the London Agreement demanding a translation of the patent claims into their national language are Croatia (Croatian), Denmark (Danish), Iceland (Icelandic), Latvia (Latvian), Slovenia (Slovenian), Sweden (Swedish) and the Netherlands (Dutch).
States that require a translation of the patent description into English are Croatia, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden and the Netherlands. The status of ratification and the different groups of EPC members is illustrated in the above presentation.
Group III: EPC member states which have not yet signed the London Agreement.
| Scope of Protection
The new translation system will be applicable in participating states for all European patents whose grants are published in the European Patent Bulletin on or after May 1st, 2008. Most of the member states will implement the Agreement starting from May 1st, 2008.
| Outlook
The London Agreement has not yet been joined by all the EPC member states but it can be expected that most EPC member states will do so in the future. The translation costs for EPC patents will be reduced dramatically. Filing European Patent Applications in an increasing number of cases will be more attractive than national filings in the EPC member states.
Will national patent applications make sense at all?
- A European Patent Application makes sense even when you wish patent protection in few EPC member states.
- You can get a patent in more EPC member states for the same money
zum Seitenanfang
München, März 2008
Bei Fragen zu diesem Thema können Sie sich gerne an den Verfasser, Herrn Patentanwalt Wolfgang Sandmann wenden.
|
|
