Implementation
The London Agreement entered into force for 14 countries on 1 May 2008, then for Lithuania as 15th contracting state on 1 May 2009, for Hungary as 16th contracting state on 1 January 2011, for Finland as 17th contracting state on 1 November 2011, and for Macedonia as 18th contracting state on 1 February 2012. In September 2012, the Irish patent legislation was amended "paving the way for Ireland's accession to the London Agreement." Namely, for European patents granted in French or German on or after 3 September 2012, the filing of a translation into English is no longer required in Ireland, although formally Ireland is not a Contracting State to the London Agreement yet.
The current implementation of the London Agreement is as follows:
| States dispensing with translation requirements | States requiring that the description of the European patent be supplied in the official language of the EPO prescribed by that state (as specified within the brackets) | States dispensing with translation requirements for the description | States requiring translation of the claims of the European patent into one of its official languages be supplied (as specified within the brackets) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
France, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Switzerland, United Kingdom |
Croatia (English), Denmark (English), Finland (English), Hungary (English), Iceland (English), Netherlands (English), Sweden (English) |
Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Slovenia |
Croatia (Croatian), Denmark (Danish), Finland (Finnish), Hungary (Hungarian), Iceland (Icelandic), Latvia (Latvian), Lithuania (Lithuanian), Macedonia (Macedonian), Netherlands (Dutch), Slovenia (Slovenian), Sweden (Swedish) |
The Agreement applies to European patents granted on or after 1 May 2008. The new language regime however already applied for Switzerland, Liechtenstein and the United Kingdom to European patents granted on or after 1 February 2008. Germany had some trouble with the implementation of the London Agreement. The original implementation bill was flawed due to miscalculations of the date of entry into force of the new translation requirements for European patents designating Germany. A new implementation bill was then published on 11 July 2008. The old translation requirements are no longer applicable in Germany retroactively as of 1 May 2008.
On 14 April 2010, the Court of Appeal of Paris, France, issued 24 similar court decisions, holding that, since France has ratified the London Agreement, no translation in French needed to be filed at the French Patent Office (INPI) with respect of European patents maintained as amended after opposition proceedings, and that this applied also to European patents for which the mention of grant has been published prior to the entry into force of the London Agreement. The French Court of Cassation upheld these decisions in November 2011.
Read more about this topic: London Agreement (2000)