The London Agreement has entered into force with respect to Hungary

The London Agreement has entered into force with respect to Hungary

On 1 January 2011, the Agreement on the application of Article 65 of the Convention on the Grant of European Patents (hereinafter referred to as "the London Agreement") entered into force in Hungary.

Following this date, for the "validation" of European patents in Hungary, the Hungarian translation of only the claims of a European patent shall be filed with the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office if the language of the proceedings before the European Patent Office was English. Nevertheless, in the case of European patents granted in French or German – besides the Hungarian translation of the claims – the text of the patent shall also be filed, at the patentee's choice, in English or in Hungarian.

The new provisions shall apply to those European patents in respect of which the mention of grant is published in the European Patent Bulletin after 1 January 2011.

The provisions effective as of 1 January 2011 shall equally apply if the notification on the maintenance in amended form, or the limitation, of the European patent granted before 1 January 2011 is published in the European Patent Bulletin after 1 January 2011.

In the case of patents granted before the entry into force of the London Agreement, the translation requirements that were in force before 1 January 2011 will prevail even if the three-month time limit specified under Article 84/H (1) of Act XXXIII of 1995 on the protection of inventions by patents (hereinafter referred to as "the Patent Act") only expires after 1 January 2011.

Simultaneously with the entry into force of the London Agreement, and in accordance with the provisions thereof, the national legislation concerning the validation of European patents has also been amended. Thus, as of 1 January 2011, the following legal provisions have been amended: the Patent Act, Decree No. 19/2005 (IV.12.) GKM on the fees for administrative services in industrial property procedures (hereinafter referred to as "the Decree on Fees"), Decree No. 20/2002 (XII. 12.) IM on the detailed formalities for patent applications, documents filed in relation to European patent applications, European patents and international patent applications and for applications for plant variety protection, as well as Government Decree No. 147/2007 (VI. 26.) on the detailed rules concerning the electronic filing of certain documents in industrial property procedures.

Under the new provisions of the Decree on Fees, the fee for the publication of the translation of European patents (which is necessary for their validation) is HUF 21 400. This amount increases by HUF 3 200 for each page in excess of six pages of the text of the patent. The number of pages shall be calculated in accordance with the following:

  • if the language of the proceedings before the European Patent Office was English, the total number of pages of the Hungarian translation of the claims and the text of the European patent apart from the claims shall be taken as a basis,

  • in the case of European patents granted in French or German, the total number of pages of the Hungarian translation of the claims and the Hungarian or English translation of the European patent apart from the claims shall be taken as a basis.