The London Agreement (“the Agreement”), concluded in London on 17th October 2000, liberalizes the translation requirements for European patents following grant. Once a European patent is granted, it is up to the patent proprietor to determine the geographic scope of protection required. During the so-called “validation phase”, the patent proprietor can validate their patent in one, several or all of the member states to the EPC. This requires the patent proprietor to translate the European patent into the official language of the relevant state.
The translation costs place a financial burden on the patent proprietor since the average costs involved in translating a European patent into one other language amounts to approximately 1400euros. Accordingly, if the patent proprietor intended to validate the patent in each of the 31 member states, the patent would need to be translated into 22 languages at a cost of approximately 31000euros!
However, under Article 1 of the Agreement any state party to the Agreement having English, French or German as an Official language agrees to dispense with the requirement for translations of the patent description and any text in the drawings, into the Official language of that state (the claims must always be translated into the three EPO languages). This currently affects Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Monaco, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
States which do not have English, French or German as an Official language have agreed to dispense with the translation requirements if the European patent has been granted in the Official language of the EPO, prescribed by that state. However, in the case of any dispute relating to a patent, the patent proprietor must, at his own expense, supply a full translation of the patent to the alleged infringer and to the competent court.
To enter into force, the Agreement must be ratified by at least eight Contracting States, including the three where the most European patents took effect in 1999 (France, Germany and the United Kingdom). Currently, Monaco, Germany, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Netherlands and Liechtenstein have ratified the Agreement, while Slovenia, Iceland and Latvia have deposited their instrument of accession. France, Denmark and Sweden are expected to ratify soon, but it is only necessary for France to ratify in order for the Agreement to come into effect. In an interview with Le Monde on 21st August 2007, the French Prime minister announced that the Agreement would be ratified soon; it is expected that France will deposit their instrument of ratification early in 2008.
The burning question therefore is: which European applications will benefit from the Agreement? Article 9 of the Agreement states that the Agreement will apply to European patents in which the mention of grant is published in the European Patent Bulletin after the Agreement entered into force for the state concerned. Therefore, it may be beneficial for applicants to spin out the prosecution and grant of their existing European applications until the Agreement comes into effect. | 
