TRANSLATING European patents into the continent鈥檚 diverse languages costs
more than $500 million a year, according to the American Intellectual
Property Law Association (AIPLA). And the association says that American
inventors have to meet about a third of this cost.
Anyone can file a European patent application in English, French or German,
says the association. But once the patent has been granted, all European
countries鈥攅xcept Luxembourg and Monaco鈥攊nsist on the full text being
translated into the local language. So inventors have to pay for the
translations. The European Patent Office admits it is a 鈥済reat burden鈥�.
The EPO is proposing a way out of this dilemma: inventors would only have to
translate the legal claims of a patent and a clear synopsis. They would only pay
for a full translation if they sued someone for infringing their patent.
Advertisement
However, at a meeting held in London last month with the AIPLA and the
British Chartered Institute of Patent Agents, the French and Spanish delegations
rejected the EPO鈥檚 compromise鈥� effectively scuppering the idea. France and
Spain still want the full text translated into their own languages.
The AIPLA says the cost of obtaining patents in Europe is now so high that it
鈥渄efeats the purpose of creating the European patent system鈥�. But European
patent lawyers told the Americans that if they wanted lower translation costs
one remedy was in their own hands. Their patents should be 鈥渟hort and
肠濒别补谤鈥�.
