Validation of European patents in Poland

 

A European patent is not actually a regional, supra-national patent, but a bunch of national patents. For a European patent to be valid in the countries where it has been granted, it needs to be validated (confirmed) there. This is required also when EPO decides that the patent is maintained in amended version.

 

In order to validate a patent in Poland, you must first and foremost have designated Poland in your EP application. Once the European patent has been granted, you will need to take measures to have it translated and published in Poland.

 

Poland has not signed the so-called London Agreement. A translation of the whole patent specification is required including the cover of the patent publication, the description, the patent claims, and the drawings (words included therein). Corrections of a translation, or a translation of a European patent maintained in an amended form must be filed also as a complete specification. The translations shall be based on the documents accompanying the EPO’s decision on the grant of a patent (communication under Rule 71(3); form 2004), the “Druckexemplar”.

 

The translated patent specification shall be filed with the Polish Patent Office within 3 months from the date the mention of the grant of a patent (B1 publication) is published by the EPO. This deadline cannot be restored. 

 

Publication fee shall be paid on filing or within 1 month from the Polish Patent Office’s notice. 

 

We are able to take over at any time after you have received your notification of intention to grant from the EPO. We provide a single report once the filing is done within days of the validation deadlines and forward official receipt to you when they are received. Our fees are divided into our fixed service charge, official fees, and a translation rate based on an independently verifiable number of source words. There are no additional fees after validation (other than annuities each year). En exemplary product of our validation process can be retrived here:

 

EP229121320 Przyrzad medyczny do dostepu wewnatrznaczyniowego

 

Once the patent has been validated in Poland, it is valid in the same way as were it a granted Polish patent. This e.g. means that you must pay annual fees to the Polish Patent Office in order to renew your patent. Once the patent is validated it will be enrolled to our watch list for the purpose of subsequent renewals.