European patent validation
Validation of European patents (in other words, recognition of the validity of an EP patent on the territory of a given country) is an important aspect of building a portfolio of all stakeholders interested in using the protection of their invention.
The procedure before the European Patent Office ends upon mention of patent grant in the EPO Bulletin. Depending on the choice of protection procedure, it is possible to obtain a monopoly in dozens of countries.
In the case of applying for protection in Poland for a granted European patent, it is necessary to carry out the procedure for its validation. Since Poland is not a member of the London Agreement, nor has it yet ratified the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (UPC), in order to obtain patent protection for a patent already granted by the EPO, it is necessary to submit to the Polish Patent Office a translation into Polish of the whole patent application, including description and claims.
The procedure for validating a European patent in Poland consists of submitting the relevant documents and paying the required official fees to the Polish Patent Office (PPO). Once these conditions are met, European patent protection becomes effective on the territory of Poland, and a validated patent is treated in the same way as a national one.
The main steps in the process of validating European patents include:
- submission of a request for European patent validation together with a translation of the invention description and claims into Polish;
- payment of official fees due, including publication fees;
- a formal assessment of the filed request by the PPO in order to meet all formal requirements, and finally,
- publication of a mention of grant in the PPO Official Journal.
Upon completion of the validation procedure, the European patent becomes equivalent to national patents and is protected under the same conditions. In order to maintain patent protection, annual fees are required for a maximum of 20 years from the date of application.
Patent Attorneys of FGGH IP and our extensive network of associates ensure that the European patent validation process is carried out in every field of technology. The maximum time limit for completion of all formalities before the PPO is 3 months from the date of publication of the mention of grant the EP patent in the EPO Bulletin; therefore, it is important to send the validation instructions in advance.
We carry out the validation service comprehensively, providing professional translation of the description of the invention and preparation of documentation, along with conducting proceedings and finally monitoring annual fees. If you decide to validate a European patent in other countries than Poland, we will advise on the optimal protection strategy, and together with a network of trusted foreign partners, we will carry out validation procedures.
If the chosen country is a member of the UPC Agreement, we also offer the service of obtaining a unitary patent along with monitoring the payment of protection fees.
We invite you to cooperate with FGGH IP. We offer efficient communication, punctuality, and security at all stages of the EP patent validation process.