European patents

Patent rights are limited by territorial boundaries, which means that a patent only confers protection in one particular country. Accordingly, it is necessary to file separate patent applications for each individual country. This is a laborious and relatively costly process, of course, which is why a large number of European countries have concluded a treaty, the European Patent Convention, which makes it possible to obtain a patent for multiple European states from a single European application. Currently (status of July 2008) the following countries can be designated in a European patent application: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland (jointly with Liechtenstein), Turkey and the United Kingdom.

 

Procedure

European patent applications must be filed with the European Patent Office, which has its main seat in Munich. The European Patent Office, however, also has an important seat in the Netherlands (Rijswijk). The granting procedure for European patents starts with an examination of the application on formal requirements and the establishment of a search report. Simultaneously, a first preliminary opinion on the patentability is provided. The entire procedure for grant takes up 2 to 4 years on average. The applicant himself can influence the duration of this procedure through the speed with which he reacts to actions of the European Patent Office. The applicant may request accelerated processing of his application. Upon filing of a European patent application, generally all countries (see above) are automatically designated. In the course of the procedure for grant, a fee is due for each country (with a maximum of 7 fees) in which the applicant wishes to maintain his application. This designation of countries and the payment of fees can be postponed to 2 years from the filing date of the patent application. No patent can be validated in countries for which no fee has been paid. Many countries require for validation of the granted European patent that a translation thereof be made in the language of the country in question. However, following the so-called London Agreement which took effect as of 1 May 2008, several countries abandoned (part of) this requirement. The follow countries do not require a translation at all: France, Germany, Luxembourg, Monaco, Switserland and United Kingdom. In another group of countries, among which The Netherlands, only the claims need to be translated in the language of the country in question, while the description may be in English.

The granted European patent is governed by the national laws of the respective countries, so that the single European patent application eventually results in a bundle of associated but nevertheless separate patents.

 

Extension

Besides the above-mentioned countries, a number of other countries can be designated in the European patent application as extension states, viz. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Serbia. Although these countries are not member states of the European Patent Convention, they can be included in the European patent application as an extension, as it were, thus providing applicants with a simple way of obtaining a national patent in those countries.

 

The costs

The honoraria for filing a European patent application are available upon request. Also fees are due for designating countries, with a maximum of seven (7) designation fees. As a rule, the total cost up to and including grant varies between € 15,000 and € 25,000 for a European patent in 10 countries. It is noted that the majority of the costs arise in the final stages of the procedure. At this time there usually exists more certainty about the commercial relevance of the patent so that a more reasoned decision can be made on the justification of these costs. If protection is sought in more than 3 - 4 European countries, it will be less expensive to follow the above-described European route rather than file separate national patent applications and have these dealt with separately. De Vries & Metman's patent attorneys are qualified European patent attorneys, who have the knowledge and expertise to advise you and who are authorized to act on your behalf in proceedings before the European Patent Office.