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The London Agreement concerning translations of European Patents will come into force on 1 May 2008. This will lead to significant cost reductions for the proprietors of European patents.
For patents granted after 1 May, a total of 14 of the states which are party to the EPC will no longer require a local translation of a granted European patent to be filed with the relevant local patent office in order for the European patent to come into force in those states. In the past these translations have been a significant cost burden for applicants. The states which no longer require translations include: UK, France, Germany, Netherlands and Switzerland.
Translations of the claims into all three European Patent Office official languages (English, French and German) will still be required prior to grant of a European patent.
If a European patent is litigated in any country which has waived its requirement for a local language translation, then it may be necessary to provide a local translation to an alleged infringer.
Countries which do not have one of the three EPO languages as their official language may designate an EPO language for which the translation requirement is to be waived. Thus if a country designates English as the language for which the translation requirement is waived, EP patents in French and German will still require translation into a local language. These countries may also/alternatively require a local language translation of the claims to be filed by patentees. Where this is a requirement, the cost will be significantly less than the cost of translating the full specification.
The UKIPO has cast some doubt over the transitional provisions. Our recommendation at this stage is that only patents with a grant date after 1 May will be able to take advantage of the London Agreement. We are looking into this further, and the transitional provisions in other countries, and will then issue a more detailed briefing note.
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