The London Agreement

The London Agreement will come into effect on May 1, 2008.
Although Austria has German as its official language and would therefore fall under Article 1(1) of the agreement, Austria has not (yet) ratified the agreement. The London Agreement is therefore not in force in Austria. This will not change until May 1, 2008.
The necessary steps for the validation of a European patent in Austria therefore remain unchanged.

For European patents in English or French a German translation of the entire specification (description, claims, figures) has to be filed within three months after the date on which the mention of grant or the decision to maintain the patent as amended is published in the European Patent Bulletin. In the event of failure to observe the time limit for filing the translation only re-establishment of rights is possible. Also a publication feed needs to be paid.

The overall costs for the validation are:
EUR 600,- for a document up to 15 pages
EUR 150,- for every 15 pages following the 16th page of the translation
These costs include taking over the representation, filing the translation and the official fees.


The appointment of an Austrian Patent Attorney is necessary and highly advisable. The filing of a power of attorney is necessary only in special situations after request from the Patent Office.

For European patents in German no further steps regarding translations have to be taken and the European patent is automatically valid for Austria. Of course, the terms for timely payment of the national renewal fees have to be observed.