PATENTS : NEW EUROPEAN CONVENTION ENTERS INTO FORCE.

On 13 December, exactly two years to the day when Greece became the fifteenth state to deposit its instrument of ratification of the European Patent Convention Revision Act, the revised EPC entered into force. The revised convention will apply to all 32 contracting states and, from 1 January 2008, to new European Patent Organisation (EPO) members Norway and Croatia.

The new EPC, replacing the original of 1973, will not avoid future intergovernmental problems such as during the 2003 election of a new president. An unhappy compromise solution led to Alison Brimelow being appointed for only three years (from 1 July 2007) to replace Alain Pompidou. Nonetheless, the new EPC will simplify access to patent protection and makes revision easier. It will allow applicants and proprietors to file patent applications first in any national language of an EPO member (and then translated into the EPO's official languages English, French or German). The new convention also allows proprietors themselves to decide...