Roger Burt, IP counsel in Europe for IBM, said that the implementation of the Agreement "was a very good thing" that would save the company money. "We're already factoring this into our annual portfolio review," he added.
Tim Frain, president of the Trade Marks Patents and Designs Federation, said: "This represents a tremendous breakthrough on the thorny political question of languages in the European patent system. It will dramatically reduce the cost of translations and hence the overall cost of obtaining European patents for everyone - individual inventors, universities, SMEs, and major corporations alike."
Michael Setton, founder and CEO of French company Cyberfab, told Managing IP that small and medium-sized companies would particularly benefit from the Agreement: "I expect you'll see the proportion of patents applied for by SMEs go up." He also predicted that this would lead to more cross-licensing and investment in emerging markets.
On Wednesday, the French IP office confirmed that France had deposited its instrument of ratification for the Agreement in Germany. The French government's move means that the Agreement will come into force on May 1 for the 12 countries that have signed it.
As a result, applicants who want a patent in Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Monaco, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland or the UK will no longer be required to translate the patent into each country's national language.
Instead, these countries have agreed to accept patent applications in one of the EPO's official languages: English, French or German. A spokesman for the EPO said that the Office was preparing what he called "user-orientated information" about which language had been nominated by each country for which English, French or German is not already an official language.
The information is due to be published by the EPO within the next week, together with more details about which of the London Agreement signatory countries have opted to require applicants to provide translations of certain parts of the patent into their national languages.
For example, officials from the Danish and Swedish IP office both confirmed to Managing IP that their governments have chosen to accept English language patents once the Agreement comes into force, but that applicants will still be required to translate the claims into Danish and Swedish respectively.
Lars Björklund, acting director-general of the Swedish Patent and Registration Office, said that the Ministry of Justice yesterday appointed an official to oversee the final administrative steps needed to implement the Agreement in Sweden and that he expected it to take effect in the country between Easter and summer.
Thomas Nording-Groof of the Danish Patent and Trademark Office's policy and legal team said that Denmark ratified the Agreement on January 17 this year. Now a government minister needs to issue national provisions to implement the deal by May 1.
The EPO estimates that the cost of a typical European patent application will be reduced by up to 40% as a result of the Agreement's implementation.
But Roger Burt said that some of those savings could be eaten up by the introduction of higher filing fees at the EPO. In December, the Office's Administrative Council announced plans to raise punitive fees for those who submit long and complex patent applications, and to substantially increase renewal fees for pending applications in April 2008.
National requirements to file translations of parts of a patent, such as the claims, will also limit the amount of money that applicants will save by the deal.
"The translator still has to read most of the specification if they are going to be able to able to translate the claims," said Burt. "Translation work won't go away completely."
Setton said that while translators would lose work translating patents, they might gain in other ways as companies have more resources to expand: "I would rather pay to have a sales brochure translated into Polish than a patent that only 10 people will read in 20 years."
Although the Agreement will come into force on May 1, some applicants will feel the benefit before then. A spokeswoman for the UK IP Office confirmed to Managing IP that translations will not need to be filed in the UK for European patents granted on or after today (February 1), because the country has a three-month period for filing translations.
Now rights owners are hoping that the Agreement will be followed by further cost-cutting reforms in Europe. "This is an excellent example of reducing costs without impairing quality. Now it is a reality we hope it will encourage more countries to sign up, and help inspire a workable solution for a Community patent," said Frain.
