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Friday, July 14, 2006REUTERS: London Agreement Soon to be Ratified by France? This appears to be really good news (if it is proven to be true at all):"[...] BRUSSELS, July 13 (Reuters) - France could break a stalemate over protecting inventions in the European Union as it is set to ratify a deal slashing patent translation costs for companies, a top industry official said on Thursday.For details concerning the London Agreement, see here. The London Agreement was concluded in London on October 17, 2000, with the aim of creating a cost attractive post-grant translation regime for European patents. If ratified, the Parties to the Agreement waive, entirely or largely, the requirement for translations of European patents to be filed in their national language. In practice this would cause that European patent proprietors will no longer have to file a translation of the specification for patents granted for an EPC Contracting State Party to the London Agreement and having one of the three EPO languages as an official language. Where this is not the case, they will be required to submit a full translation of the specification in the national language only if the patent is not available in the EPO language designated by the country concerned.De facto the entry into force of the Agreement must wait until the United Kingdom, Germany, and France have ratified. While the United Kindom and Germany have already done their homework, France had delayed ratification proceedings probably due to reasons to be located within the framework of domestic politics. Technorati Tags: Patents
I got via e-mail the following comment on this article from a reader of my Blog: "A french parliamentary commission published a report on may 17 inviting the Assemblée Nationale to ratify (http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/12/europe/rap-info/i3093.asp#P1147_127772 ). Among the 35 deputies of this commission, only one was against the ratification (industrial lobbyists MEDEF and CGPME and some public scientists pro, and patent agents CNCPI and translators against). Usually the Assemblée votes the commissions' proposals, because the commissioners are the only deputies who thoroughly look into the topic issues. Actually, ratification has already been proposed to the vote in march 2006, in an amendment to the law about research and technology, which has however been withdrawn afterwards without vote for "technical" reasons. After the vote by the Assemblée nationale, the Senate must in turn validate the ratification. And, though the EU paper you previoulsy mentioned (FUTURE PATENT POLICY IN EUROPE - 12/7/06 http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/indprop/docs/patent/preliminary_findings_en.pdf) says that the french Senate is ready to do so, I did not find any report in this direction. I merely found a neutral "compte-rendu" (http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/12/rap-off/i3169.asp#P261_4737), with opinions but without preliminary vote. Anyway, I think the Senate would also vote the ratification. Probably before may 2007. And then, the EPLA could rapidly be pushed forward, since it appears to be the political counterpart claimed by France to the french ratification."  Post a Comment
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