Under Article 65(2) EPC, any Contracting State which has adopted provisions pursuant to Article 65(1) EPC may require the proprietor of the patent to bear all or part of the costs of publishing that translation within a time limit fixed by the State. Official fees are usually based on the scope of the text of the European patent application. As a general rule, the following factors are taken into account: number of words (of the description and/or claims of the European patent), number of claims and number of pages of the granted European patent. It is of the utmost importance that all translations are carried out by people who are native speakers of the target language, who have a degree or similar training and who are ideally the subject of the patent. European patents may be amended following a grant, opposition, appeal or limitation procedure. The London Agreement, formally referred to as the Agreement on the Application of Article 65 of the Convention on the Grant of European Patents and sometimes referred to as the London Protocol, is an agreement on patent law concluded in London on 17 October 2000 with the aim of reducing the translation costs of European patents granted under the European Patent Convention (EPC). [1] The London Agreement is an optional agreement between the Member States of the European Patent Organisation[1] and did not change the other language requirements applicable to European patent applications before they were granted. It may be necessary to file a translation of the entire specification into the national language of a country if the patent is the subject of litigation in that country. In accordance with Article 9 of the Convention, the rules apply to European patents for which the reference to be granted from 1. It was released in May 2008. However, the new language regime already applied to Switzerland, Liechtenstein and the United Kingdom for European patents granted on or after 1 February 2008. [2] Germany has had some difficulties with the implementation of the London Agreement. The original transposition law was flawed due to errors in the calculation of the date of entry into force of the new translation rules for European patents designating Germany.

[18] As a result, a new implementing law was published on July 11, 2008. The old translation requirements no longer apply in Germany with retroactive effect from 1 May 2008. [19] Simply providing clients with an estimate of the costs of a possible EP validation procedure could take days for a patent attorney. Thanks to IP Centrum`s advanced technology, this can now be achieved in seconds. Patent attorneys no longer need to teach, manage, track and collaborate with individual agents across Europe. Instead, they click a button, see their progress live through IP Centrum`s state-of-the-art web monitoring system, and pay a single bill, reducing time from days or weeks to minutes. As France deposited its instruments of ratification on 29 January 2008, the Agreement entered into force on 1 May 2008. [2] Contracting States to the EPC which have ratified or acceded to the Convention undertake to derogate, in whole or to a large extent, from the obligation to translate European patents. In accordance with Article 1(1), (2) and (3) of the London Agreement, it is good to know that an annual maintenance fee is due after the publication of the grant in countries where you wish to have a valid patent. As a result, the validation itself is not enough to have valid protection, pensions must also be paid. As Hungary is a member of the European Patent Convention, the European patent can benefit from protection in Hungary under the validation procedure.

Of course, the cost reductions will be greater if the validation countries include those that have signed the London Agreement, although these savings can be offset by the inclusion of validation countries where German/French is the official language and which are not registered (see Example 4). Order online validation for one of the 38 countries. The unitary patent (UP) is a European patent with unitary effect. Unitary effect may be registered in a European patent when it is granted and replaces the validation of the European patent in the different Member States concerned. Unitary patents will exist alongside existing national patents and European patents. The validation period varies from country to country, but there is usually a period of three months from the date of EU funding during which the country`s validation requirements for the national phase must be met. In some cases, an extension of this period is possible, sometimes only under certain conditions. This is usually associated with additional charges.

Many patent attorneys feel uncomfortable giving their competitors access to their client list. IP Centrum is completely independent and is not affiliated or affiliated with any patent attorney or intellectual property firm. We think that is important. The Convention did not change other language requirements that were in force before the grant of a European patent, such as .B. The main factor determining the cost of translating the European patent is the number of source words in the document. Validation is an important part of the life cycle cost of a European patent, especially when many countries are required. Submitting tens of thousands of validations per year and translating millions of words into each language means that IP Centrum`s purchasing power is enormous. We offer our agents and suppliers user-friendly and highly efficient processes that further reduce their costs, which means we can pass these savings on to our customers.

Actual requirements vary from country to country. Before 1 May 2008, once a European patent was granted, the patent had to be translated into an official language of each country in which the patent proprietor applied for patent protection within three months[3] (or six months for Ireland[4]) from the date of grant. If the translation of the European patent has not been made available to the national patent office within the prescribed period, the patent “has been considered invalid in that State from the outset”. [5] This situation continues to apply in States Parties where the Convention has not yet entered into force. Most countries require that the applicant has obtained appropriate authorization from the applicant for validation with respect to the formalities necessary for the patent given in the respective country. Some countries allow general powers of attorney that allow the attorney to act on behalf of an applicant with respect to all of his or her patents. In some cases, the signed power of attorney document must accompany the validation request, and in other cases it is not necessary or can be filed at a later date or simply kept in the file for future reference. .