News

The transitional UPC period of at least 6 years (up to 2029) (extendable up to 12 years) is supposed to last until high quality computer-generated translations into all official languages of the EU are available. The translation to be filed during this period is legally for information only, but according to the preamble of the respective Council Regulation (EU) No 1260/2012, “translations should not be carried out by automated means and their high quality should contribute to the training of translation engines by the EPO”. Hence, downloading a computer-generated translation from "EPO Patent Translate" and filing it as UP translation would…

The Dutch Patent Act 1995 is going to be modernised ! The most important change proposed is the re-introduction of the examined patent. This means that a patent is only granted if all the requirements for granting a patent have been met (novelty, inventive step, industrial applicability). At the moment, the a Dutch patent is only examined after grant by the judge (in infringement/invalidation procedures). With an examined patent, both patent holders and their competitors better know the scope of the claimed patent rights. A short history : The Netherlands introduced the patent system already in 1817, but abolished it…

The majority of granted EP patents have an English specification, and for those, the questions arises which language should be selected for the UP translation. Most effective would be one that can be re-used to a significant degree: If your EP patent shall be validated an EU state that is not participating in the UPC, with full-text translation requirement such as Spain, in addition to the UP, the translation in that language can be used for both procedures without any further adaptation.If your EP patent claims priority from a first filing in a language of an EU member state, the priority application may be…

We wish you a happy 2025 !  As in previous years, we are here to provide you with qualitative translations of your patent documents.  Don' hesitate to contact us. We will be closed on January 1, 2025.

The introduction of the European patent with unitary effect (also known as the unitary patent or UPC) enables patent holders to protect their inventions in 25 member states by filing a single patent application at the European Patent Office and selecting the UPC regional protection.  The procedure up to granting of the unitary patent remains the same as for regular European patents without unitary effect. After the patent is granted, there will be no need to validate it in each country that is now requiring a separate validation step (Note : The London Protocol has already made validation much easier,…

On 8 February 2018, the UK Privy Council approved The Unified Patent Court (Immunities and Privileges) Order 2018 (reported here) and the final published Order (SI 2018/184) can now be found here with an Explanatory Memorandum. The Order will only come into force after the UPC’s Protocol on Privileges and Immunities comes into force, which is likely to be around the time the provisional application phase starts. The UK is now in a position to ratify the UPC Agreement, having completed all the legislative steps. Source : www.bristowsupc.com/latest-news/privy-council-approves-privileges-and-immunities-order

Face it : nobody wants to pay more for a translation than is strictly necessary.  And translations in the framework of a patent procedure (EPC, PCT or national) are often seen as a cost to be minimized.  This assumption is correct .. with a few nuances.  A translated patent claim for an EP-grant should not state something else than the original : it might generate confusion about the scope of the claim, and in some countries (such as Austria) the scope is determined by the scope of the translation if this scope is smaller than the original scope !  Therefor,…

In mid-June, the German Federal Constitutional Court asked the German President not to sign legislation designed to implement the EU Unified Patent Court (UPC, EU Agreement 16351/12) and Unitary Patent (EU Regulation 1257/12). Now, there are hints for a further delay. The constitutional complaint behind the delay, rumoured to be brought up by a German life sciences IP expert, has led to a stop of hiring German judges for the UPC, a clear signal that Germany is going to halt the ratification process of the UPC agreement for a longer period of time than previously expected. Without the UK, Germany and France ratifying…

Are you a patent attorney in training, retired or qualified with too much free time (almost impossible, but maybe ...) and do you like translating patents ?  Are you an experienced patent translator ? Can you spare the time to translate for us on a regular basis ?  Can you timely deliver translations with excellent quality ?  Do you like to be part of a team but work from home in your own (s)pace ?  We are expanding our translator base for the following language pairs : EN-FR, EN-DE, EN-NL, DE-FR, FR-NL  and vice versa.  Please apply by sending us an email with…

From January 1, 2017,  to validate an EP patent in Belgium (when granted after January 1, 2017),  all you have to do, is pay the annuity fee.  It is not necessary to file any translation or PoA  anymore, nor even communicate with the Belgian Patent Office.  However, it is advisable to register DIPS International with the Belgian Patent Office as an address for service in case the Patent Office needs to contact you. PATENT VALIDATION The Belgian Parliament recently adopted a new regulation (Law of 29th June 2016, containing various provisions regarding the economy, articles 22, 48, 60) impacting patent…