European Patent Law

Answer 1

Along with smaller European Union regulatory agencies, European patent law includes national patent laws, the European Patent Convention of 1973, the Strasbourg Convention of 1963, WTA’s Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights and the Patent Law Treaty. For any patents that are involved in the European states, patents must be obtained from national patent offices or through a patent prosecution process in the European Patent Office. Patents obtained in one European state do not make the patent enforceable in the entire European Union. Patents distributed for the entire region must be obtained from a separate office governing the Union, not simply a state. In Germany, Austria and Spain, utility models are also available; these have shorter terms than traditional patents.

To file a patent application, proper paperwork must be filed at a national patent office or the European Patent Office. International applications must be obtained through the Patent Cooperation Treaty. After filing with this office, the patent will undergo a process and then be enacted in the country or countries specified. There are some exceptions to nationalization of patents in several countries. Cyprus, Belgium, France, Greece, Italy, Latvia and Ireland, among others, do not allow nationalization of international patents. To obtain a patent in these countries, a national patent must be sought separately. Before attempting to file an international patent, it is important to check the European country’s laws where the patent will be used. If the patent will be effective in more than one country, it may be necessary to file several individual national patents for those countries that do not accept international patents. Since the national patents are more restricted, they must be obtained through the European Patent Office. Community patents are expected to be a thing of the future. While none are currently in effect in European states, expectations of these patents are expected to surface in the near future. Community patents would result in a single unitary patent.

The Strasbourg Convention provisions made patent law fairly uniform throughout different European states. The TRIP Agreement also had effects on the uniformity of laws. There are still some difficulties in interpretations through different countries in Europe. For example, with infringement and validity aspects, there are several differences between some national laws. To illustrate this, in Germany infringement and validity are decided by different jurisdictions, the United Kingdom’s court system that determines validity also determines infringement.