February 2008
On 29 January 2008 France finally ratified the London Agreement, meaning that it will enter into force on 1 May 2008. We are delighted to report this welcome move to make the European patent system more affordable to applicants.
In brief, the London Agreement is an international agreement designed to lessen the cost of validating a European patent by reducing the translation requirements at the grant stage, in states which are parties to the Agreement.
For states that are already parties to the Agreement, the Agreement will enter into force on 1 May 2008. The Agreement will enter into force in states which accede to or ratify the Agreement at a later date on the first day of the fourth month following deposit of each state's accession or ratification instrument.
As things stand, the following states are parties to the Agreement :
Croatia
France
Germany
Iceland
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Monaco
Netherlands
Slovenia
Switzerland
UK
Denmark and Sweden have also decided that they will ratify the Agreement, but the actual date on which these states will deposit their instruments of ratification is yet to be determined.
When the Agreement comes into force it will only have an effect upon European patents whose grant takes place after the commencement date of 1 May 2008.
Where commercially acceptable, we recommend delaying the grant of applications which are still pending, until after 1 May 2008. This will not be possible for any European patent applications which have completed the Rule 51(4) EPC stage (i.e. the approval of the allowed text and the payment of the grant fees). The grant of any other European patent application can be delayed to beyond 1 May 2008. If you would like further advice as to how such a delay can be achieved, and the possible cost reductions available, please feel free to contact us.
We expect a number of additional states to ratify the Agreement after it has entered into force, leading to additional, and significant, cost reductions.
Further information, including a copy the Agreement itself, can be found at the website of the European Patent Office here, but if you have any queries - general or case specific - please feel free to contact us.