European Commission proposes Translation Arrangements for the Future EU Patent

According to a proposal of the EU Commission, the application of a future EU patent at the EPO could be filed in any language before being translated into one of the three official languages of the EPO (English, French or German). The applicant would be required to provide a translation of the claims into the remaining two official EPO languages. Only in the event of a legal dispute and upon request of the alleged infringer it would it be necessary to provide a translation into an official language of the member state in which the alleged infringement took place or the alleged infringer is domiciled. In this way, the EU Commission plans to drastically limit the translation costs of future EU patents.