London Agreement - Reduced Translation Costs of European Patents in Macedonia

The London Agreement simplifies and reduces the associated translation costs by reducing, and in some instances eliminating, the translation required for validation of a granted European patent.

The London Agreement entered into force in Macedonia on 1 February 2012 and is now in force in eighteen EPC contracting states*.

In practice however, little will change for Macedonia after 1 February 2012 since aspects of the London Agreement were already part of Macedonian national law. Macedonia does not require the proprietor of a European patent to supply a translation of the complete specification, irrespsctive of the EPO language of employed for the application. However, a translation of the claims only into Macedonian is required to make grant effective.  

*Croatia, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Monaco, Netherlands, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.