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February 6, 2008

London Agreement will reduce translation costs of granted European patents

Translation costs of European patents will be reduced when the London Agreement enters into force at the beginning of May 2008.

Until now, in most EPC contracting states the process of validating a European patent has required that the patent be registered in the national language of the validation country. The aim of the London Agreement concluded in 2000 is to lower patenting costs in Europe by waiving, in part, the national translation requirements. Each state party to the London Agreement dispenses unilaterally with the requirement for a translation to be filed in its national language. It suffices that the application is filed in one of the official languages of the EPO, which are English, French and German.

So far France, Germany and the United Kingdom, as well as Denmark, Iceland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, Sweden, Slovenia, and Switzerland have ratified the London Agreement. Once the London Agreement has entered into force, the description of the patent need no longer be translated into the national language of a contracting state. Some of the states who have ratified the London Agreement will continue to require that the claims be translated into their own language.

Finland has not yet made a decision whether to join the Agreement, which means that European patents to be validated in Finland must still be translated in full into Finnish.

Our patent attorneys will also be pleased to answer your questions.