London Agreement Enters Into Force
The long-awaited London Agreement on the application of Article 65 of the European
Patent Convention (EPC) entered into force on Thursday, meaning that the cost
of translating an average European patent has been greatly reduced. The London Agreement will reduce the cost of patenting through the European
Patent Office (EPO) by reducing the translation requirements for European patents. The Agreement has been ratified in fourteen states (Croatia, Denmark, France,
Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Slovenia,
Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom) and came into force in all of these
countries on 1st May, 2008. Commenting earlier this year, the UK Intellectual Property Office (UK-IPO)
predicted that inventors and businesses in the UK are set to save more than
GBP10 million a year as a result of the agreement. The change is expected to benefit small and medium-sized enterprises in particular. .
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