London Agreement

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The London Agreement (full name: Agreement on the Application of Article 65 EPC , also known as the London Protocol or London Agreement ) is a supplementary agreement to the European Patent Convention (EPC) and regulates the filing of translations of European patents in the individual member states .

history

Art. 65 EPC allows the contracting states of the European Patent Convention to request a translation of the entire patent specification , i.e. the description, the claims and any markings on the drawings , when the patent is validated in their country . Since the resulting costs for the applicant are very high, more cost-effective solutions were sought in the 1990s. These efforts led to the conclusion of an agreement on the application of Article 65 EPC at an Intergovernmental Conference in London on October 17, 2000, which is why this agreement is referred to for short as the "London Agreement". The Convention was signed by 10 EPC contracting states, but accession is open to all others at any time.

The Convention was to enter into force on the first day of the fourth month after the last instrument of ratification or accession was deposited by eight contracting states to the EPC, including the three states in which most European patents came into effect in 1999, i.e. H. Germany, Great Britain, France. Germany deposited the instrument of ratification on February 19, 2004, Great Britain on August 15, 2005. After the Netherlands became the eighth country to deposit its instrument of ratification on October 5, 2006, only ratification by France was outstanding. France deposited the instrument of ratification on January 29, 2008 and became the thirteenth country to ratify or accede to the treaty.

The London Agreement thus entered into force on May 1, 2008. It affects all European patents for which the reference to grant is published on or after May 1, 2008. The decisive factor is therefore not the date of the decision to grant, but the date of publication of the reference to the grant of the patent.

Contracting States

By the time it entered into force on May 1, 2008, all 10 signatory states had ratified the London Agreement, the last being Sweden on April 29, 2008. 4 other EPC contracting states had acceded to it by then. The Convention thus originally entered into force for only 14 of the then 34 EPC contracting states. Since then, other countries have acceded to the convention, so that it currently (February 2020) applies to 22 of the now 38 EPC contracting states .

Numerous contracting states to the EPC are still missing, including the economically important countries Italy, Spain and Poland. Of the countries that have one of the three official languages ​​of the European Patent Office as their official language, only Austria is missing. The missing states can still request translations of European patent specifications into their respective official language. Even if accession is open to all contracting states to the EPC at any time, some countries, e.g. B. Spain, declares that this is out of the question for them.

Country EPO language as the official language Signed on Ratification document deposited on Certificate of membership deposited on Convention in force
Albania No May 31, 2013 0September 1st 2013
Belgium Yes 02nd May 2019 01st September 2019
Denmark No October 17, 2000 January 18, 2008 0May 1, 2008
Germany Yes October 17, 2000 February 19, 2004 0May 1, 2008
Finland No July 25, 2011 0November 1, 2011
France Yes June 29, 2001 January 29, 2008 0May 1, 2008
Ireland Yes November 25, 2013 0March 1, 2014
Iceland No August 31, 2004 0May 1, 2008
Croatia No October 31, 2007 0May 1, 2008
Latvia No 0April 5, 2005 0May 1, 2008
Lithuania No January 22, 2009 0May 1, 2009
Liechtenstein Yes October 17, 2000 November 23, 2006 0May 1, 2008
Luxembourg Yes March 20, 2001 September 18, 2007 0May 1, 2008
Macedonia No October 20, 2011 0February 1, 2012
Monaco Yes October 17, 2000 November 12, 2003 0May 1, 2008
Netherlands No October 17, 2000 0October 5, 2006 0May 1, 2008
Norway No September 26, 2014 0January 1, 2015
Sweden No October 17, 2000 April 29, 2008 0May 1, 2008
Switzerland Yes October 17, 2000 June 12, 2006 0May 1, 2008
Slovenia No September 18, 2002 0May 1, 2008
Hungary No September 28, 2010 0January 1, 2011
United Kingdom Yes October 17, 2000 August 15, 2005 0May 1, 2008

Implementation in Germany

The Federal Republic of Germany deposited its instrument of ratification of the London Agreement on February 19, 2004. As early as December 10, 2003, the Bundestag had passed a law amending the law on international patent agreements ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 2470 ), with which the London Agreement was to be implemented in German law.

A mistake in this law initially caused problems when the Convention came into force. In fact, that law set the date of entry into force on the first day of the fourth month after the entry into force of the London Agreement and not, as provided in the Convention, on the first day of the fourth month after ratification by the States provided for in the Agreement. Thus, the requirement to translate the description for Germany was initially only omitted for European patents for which the reference to the grant would be published on or after September 1, 2008 (i.e. four months after May 1, 2008).

The Federal Ministry of Justice then drew up a draft law, by means of which the requirement for a translation should retroactively be dropped from May 1st. This was passed on July 7, 2008 within the framework of the law to improve the enforcement of intellectual property rights ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 1191 ). This law also were Patent Act , the Utility Model Act , the Design Act , the Trademark Act , the Copyright Act and other laws changed to protect intellectual property. In Article 8a, the International Patent Conventions Act is brought into line with the provisions of the London Convention and in Article 8b, the following amendments are made, including: a. the law amending the law on international patent conventions of December 10, 2003 repealed. Articles 8a and 8b, relating to the London Agreement, entered into force retrospectively from May 1, 2008, and the remaining parts of the Act from September 1, 2008.

Due to the pending status until July 11, 2008, translations of the entire application had to be submitted in Germany even after the London Convention came into force on May 1, 2008.

content

In the London Agreement, the signatory states waive any rights to request translations that they would actually have under the European Patent Convention. A distinction is made between states that have one of the official languages ​​of the European Patent Office ( German , English or French ) as their official language and states that do not.

States with German, English or French as the official language

The contracting states of the London Agreement, which have one of the official languages ​​of the European Patent Office (German, English or French) as their official language, waive the filing of a translation of European patents. In future, it will no longer be necessary in these countries to submit a complete translation of a European patent specification into the respective national language. The claims of a European patent must also be translated into all three official languages.

Official language countries
German Germany - Liechtenstein - Luxembourg - Switzerland
English Great Britain - Ireland
French France - Luxembourg - Monaco - Switzerland

States without an official language of German, English or French

The contracting states of the London Agreement with an official language other than German, English or French can only request translations of European patents to a limited extent. On the one hand, these countries can request a translation of the patent claims - but not the complete patent specification - into their official language. On the other hand, these countries can require that the complete patent specification must be submitted in either German, English or French. Some countries accept all three languages, others have required English. None of the contracting states has so far required only German or French. Some countries also accept a translation into their official language as an alternative.

country Language for claims Language for the patent specification
Albania - -
Denmark Danish English or Danish
Finland Finnish English or Finnish
Iceland Icelandic English or Icelandic
Croatia Croatian English
Latvia Latvian German , English or French
Lithuania Lithuanian German , English or French
Macedonia Macedonian German , English or French
Netherlands Dutch English or Dutch
Norway Norwegian English or Norwegian
Sweden Swedish English or Swedish
Slovenia Slovenian German , English or French
Hungary Hungarian English or Hungarian

Examples

  1. Every granted European patent can be validated in the countries without translation
    • Germany, France, Great Britain, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Switzerland, as these states have one of the official languages ​​of the European Patent Office as their official language and the claims have therefore already been translated into the respective language.
  2. Every granted European patent can be validated in the countries without a translation of the description , only with a translation of the claims
    • Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Slovenia, as these states have not prescribed a specific language.
  3. For a European patent granted in German, no translations are required in the following countries either:
    • Austria, although it is not a member of the London Convention, as German is the official language there.
  4. For a European patent granted in English, no translations are required in the following countries either:
    • Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Croatia, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Hungary, as these countries have required English

Effects

The effects of the London Agreement are ambivalent:

  • On the one hand, translation costs are reduced for the applicant. It is expected that this will be a positive incentive to file more European patent applications and to validate granted European patents in more countries.
  • On the other hand, traders are now forced to pay attention to foreign-language patents. If they do not speak the language in question, they have to have the relevant patents translated.

See also

swell

  1. ↑ Official Journal of the European Patent Office 2001, p. 549 ( PDF )

Web links