London Protocol (09.07.2008)

On May 1, 2008, the London Protocol has come into force. This voluntary agreement between many important EPC states significantly reduces translation costs for the validation of a European patent in a number of member states. The states having signed the London Protocol up to now are: United Kingdom, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, Sweden, Denmark, Monaco, Luxemburg, Iceland, Latvia, and Slovenia.

In member states having signed the London Protocol and having one of the three official EPO languages (English, German, French) as a national language, a granted European patent does not need to be translated for validation in that country. For example, if a European patent has been prosecuted before the EPO in English, a validation in France and Germany does not require a translation of the description into French and German any more. Please note that – as before – the claims of every granted European patent have to be filed in English, German and French.

Member states, which have signed the London Protocol and do not have one of the official EPO languages as a national language, could choose one of said three official languages in which the patent may be validated. Up to now, all the respective countries have chosen English. If in the above example, the European patent shall be validated in the Netherlands and Sweden, no further translation of the English description is required. If however, the patent has been prosecuted in German or French, English translations are needed for the Netherlands and Sweden (not remarkably, as noted above, for the UK).

Only in case of a patent infringement law suit may the member states require a complete translation of the patent into one of their national languages.

London protocol countries may require a translation of the claims into one of their national languages. Up to now, most of the respective countries have chosen this option. For countries with German or French as a national language, no specific translation is required since the claims have to be translated into German and French anyway if the patent is scheduled for grant. For example, no specific translation of the claims have to be prepared for Switzerland.

At last, an example of a typical case is presented: Let’s assume that a European patent application shall be prosecuted in English. The client intends to get protection in France, Germany, United Kingdom and Italy. According to the London Protocol, for validating the patent in said countries, a translation of just the claims into German and French and a full translation just in Italian is required. The client thus saves considerable translation costs.

The EPO estimates that the average translation costs for validating a European patent will be reduced by approximately 45 %.

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