Agreement to Ease Patent Translation
16th October 2007
The London Agreement (concluded in October 2000 and finally ratified this month) aims ease the costs associated with validating European Patents.
At present, once a European Patent has been granted by the European Patent Office (EPO), the whole Patent must be translated into the local language of each country in order for the patent rights to be validated. This is both costly and time consuming.
The London Agreement will approximately halve the current translation costs associated with European patents. All states which have ratified the London Agreement have agreed to forego full translations of patents granted by the European Patent Office.
States which have signed up to the London Agreement (UK, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Monaco, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland and, from 2008, France) will recognise patents with descriptions in one of the three official languages of the EPO (English, French or German). However, the patent claims may still require translation into the language of the country in which the patent is applied for.
For further information visit the UKIPO website