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European Patent  —  National Validation

 
Upon the grant of a European patent, this patent has to be validated in the states effectively designated in the application and in which the protection of the European patent is to take effect. The required steps are specified in the respective domestic laws of the EPC member states.

These steps include the requirement to appoint a domestic representative or state an address for service, as well as the requirement to file a translation of the European patent or at least of its patent claims into a national official language. The London Agreement will take effect on May 1, 2008 with the following provisions:

A European patent is validated automatically in the following states; the filing of a translation is no longer necessary for these states:
Germany, France, United Kingdom, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco.

A translation into a national official language of the patent claims only is required for the following states:
Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Macedonia (former Yugoslav Republic).

The following states require a translation of the patent claims into a national official language as well as the availability of the specification in the English language or the fling of a translation of the specification into a national official language or into English:
Croatia, Denmark, Iceland, the Netherlands, Sweden.

The following states have not acceded to the London Agreement and still demand the filing of a translation of the whole European patent into a national official language:
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Spain, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Malta*), Norway, Poland, Portugal, Rumania, Slovakia, Turkey, Hungary, Cyprus.

Information concerning the following states has not yet been published:
Albania, San Marino.

*) English translation

    To the website of the
European Patent Office
EPC member states

status: 01.05.2010
 

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