Sub Navigation
Implementing the London Agreement: an overview
Désolé. Actuellement, cette page n'existe pas en français.
The road is clear for the London Agreement to enter into force on 1 May 2008, after France deposited the instrument of ratification with the German Foreign Ministry on 29 January. The agreement will reduce post-grant translation costs and ultimately make patenting in Europe less expensive.
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. .To this day, thirteen member states of the EPO have ratified. Under the agreement, key EPC contracting states agreed to largely or entirely waive the requirement for translations of granted European patents into their national languages.
The contracting states to accede to the London Agreement are Croatia, Denmark, Latvia, the Netherlands, France, Liechtenstein, Slovenia, Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Iceland, Monaco, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
Scope of application
According to its legal text, the London Agreement will apply to all European patents for which the mention of the grant is published in the European Patent Bulletin after the agreement enters into force in the state concerned. In other words, 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 1 May 2008. This is normally the case for all procedures in which the EPO has communicated its intention to grant a European patent (Rule 71(3) EPC) after 1 February 2008.
Two contracting states, Switzerland and the UK, have adopted a transitional provision to the effect that even grants mentioned on and after 1 February already fall under the regime of the London Agreement. Other states are in the process of finalising their implementation of the Agreement. In any case, relevant information on the implementation of the Agreement can be found in the relevant national law.
Practice regarding translation requirements
The London Agreement distinguishes between two types of participating states. On one hand, some states share an official language for national proceedings with the three official languages of the European Patent Organization, namely English, French and German. On the other hand, several states that have no official language in common.
Consequently, the London Agreement prescribes the following procedure:
(1) States sharing an official language with the EPO will entirely dispense with translation requirements (Article 1(1) of the London Agreement). These states are 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 as well as related fees for professional representation will consequently be eliminated in these countries.
(2) 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 demanding 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.
An important note from the EPO
It is worth pointing out that the effects achieved through the London Agreement only apply to the post-grant translation regimen for European patents. In other words, patentees save costs on translations after their invention has already undergone all the necessary steps towards European patent status.
The London Agreement will not affect costs involved with the application and granting process for patents at the EPO, which remain unchanged in day-to-day operations at branches throughout Europe.