After a European (EP) patent has been granted by the European Patent Office, it must be “validated” in one or more of the designated European states in order to bring it into force in those states. The validation process usually includes filing a full translation of the granted EP patent in the local language of that state. For this reason, the costs of this validation process are usually considerable.

The London Agreement should significantly reduce the cost of obtaining patents in Europe by eliminating the requirement to file translations in all countries.

** STOP PRESS **
The London Agreement was ratified by France on 29 January 2008 and will therefore come into effect on 1 May 2008.