The European Patent Office is planning to introduce new legal translation rules for European patent applicants. The new rules will make it simpler for inventors to obtain patents that are enforceable throughout the European Union.
This unified patent protection system will simplify legal translation requirements, and reduce the cost of obtaining patents. The European Patent Office intends to implement the changes by 2014.
European Patent Office: Existing System
For decades, anyone who has wanted to use the European Patent Office for their invention has had to translate the legal documents into the language of every country where the patent will be recognized.
Currently, if you want protection for your patent in all 27 EU member states, you would need to obtain separate legal translations in the language of each country. This requirement places a significant administrative burden on patent applicants. This makes that process considerably more onerous than other comparable jurisdictions, including the US.
The current EU patent regime may discourage inventors in Europe from obtaining enforceable patents.
New European Patent Office Rules
The European Parliament has voted to require inventors to submit their application in one of three languages: English, German or French. After this submission, the inventor would then only have to provide legal translation for the two remaining languages.
The new rules promise to deliver significant savings to those applying for patents through the European Patent Office.
To date, Italy and Spain have been critical of the European patent reform since their main languages are not part of the program. However, many patents in these countries are written in English, anyway.
Inventors in these nations can also continue to submit their applications in their native language, and then include a legal translation to English, German, and/or French. The European Patent Organization and the European Patent Office would likely work together to reimburse inventors for these translation costs.
Clearly, the reform would save inventors a significant amount of money on legal translation. This may encourage them to submit patents for new inventions, when previously they might have hesitated due to the translation costs.
As long as at least 13 EU states approve these changes, the European Patent Office may finally have patent reform by the start of 2014.
Source: http://www.legallanguage.com/legal-articles/european-patent-office-reform-201/
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