France breaks deadlock on patent translation accord

The French Senate late on Tuesday ratified a European patent agreement that simplifies the translation requirements for all patent applicants in the Union, the European Patent Office said Wednesday.

By signing up to the so-called London Agreement, France has broken a linguistic obstacle that for decades has burdened patent applicants wanting to use their inventions across Europe.

The move will make it easier for inventors to file multinational European patent applications. It may also re-invigorate efforts to create a single European patent, known as the Community Patent, after numerous failed attempts.

The Munich-based European Patent Office welcomed the French Senate’s move. “It happened late last night. It’s very good news,” said Reiner Osterwalder, an EPO spokesman.

French technology firm Cyberfab was the first to cheer the vote. “We welcome the French decision to ratify the London Agreement. Today marks a long-awaited victory for innovative entrepreneurs not only in France, but across the whole of Europe,” said Michael Setton, Cyberfab’s CEO, who is also a member of the pro-industry group the Association for Competitive Technology.

“We applaud France for overcoming vested interests that sought to impede progress on the reform, threatening the competitiveness of the French economy,” he said, adding: “France has paved the way to make the patent system more accessible to all innovative SMEs in Europe.”

France’s signature means that the London Agreement can now enter into force, doing away with much of the translation costs that patent applicants must pay to have their inventions recognised in different European countries.

These costs can account for 20 percent to 40 percent of the total cost of filing for patent protection, Osterwalder said.

Ratification of the agreement means patent applicants will need to submit their patents in only one language: French, English or German, the three official languages recognized under the three decades-old European Patent Convention.

Patent claims – the short summaries of the patents – will have to be made available in all three official languages.

Countries with English, French or German as their national language will no longer demand translations of patents filed in one of the other two official languages. Other countries will designate one of the three as their official language for patents, while allowing applicants to file in the local tongue as well.

Some of the 32 countries that have signed up to the European Patent Convention, including the 27 in the European Union, have opposed the London Agreement because they fear that dropping their language from patents will harm their economic clout in the world, and make English the continent’s de-facto commercial tongue.

Spain has been the biggest opponent, arguing that Spanish is more widely spoken than French around the world.

Many new members of the E.U. have not yet ratified the agreement, but were expected to do so soon now that France has made its decision. In any case, France, Germany and England were the key countries required for the agreement to go ahead, and Germany and England had already signed on.

The issue of translation has been one of the main obstacles to the creation of a Community Patent, but others remain. Patent holders still need to register their EPO-approved patent in every country they want to protect it, and patent disputes are fought in national courts under that country’s patent code.

A Community Patent would be enforceable in all countries signed up to the European Patent Convention.

A separate initiative being debated by European lawmakers aims to create a single jurisdiction for patents, as well as a single European patent court to replace the patchwork of national jurisdictions in place now.

However, the subject is proving as controversial as the translations issue.