Accession to the London Agreement
On 20 April 2009, the Hungarian Parliament enacted Act XXIII of 2009 on the accession to the Agreement dated 17 October 2000 on the application of Article 65 of the Convention on the Grant of European Patents (hereinafter referred to as the Agreement). The Act was promulgated in the Official Hungarian Gazette on 30 April 2009.
The instrument of accession to the Agreement is to be deposited between 1 and 30 September 2010, whereupon its entry into force in respect of the Republic of Hungary is expected on 1 January 2011.
Besides the promulgation of the Agreement, the provisions of the aforementioned Act also contain amendments to Act XXXIII of 1995 on the protection of inventions by patents (Patents Act) required due to the accession to the Agreement. The provisions amending the Patents Act enter simultaneously into force with the Agreement, i.e. on 1 January 2011.
The provisions of the Agreement will apply in the Republic of Hungary to those European patents in respect of which the mention of grant is published in the European Patent Bulletin after 1 January 2011.
After the entry into force of the Agreement, Hungary will dispense with the translation requirements provided for in Article 65, paragraph 1, of the European Patent Convention, if the European patent has been granted in English or translated into that language and supplied under the conditions provided for in Article 65, paragraph 1, of the European Patent Convention. (The European patent may also be supplied in Hungarian instead of the English translation.)
Besides, on the basis of the authorization in Article 1, paragraph 3 of the Agreement, Hungary will continue to require that the translation of the claims into Hungarian be supplied under the conditions provided for in Article 65, paragraph 1, of the European Patent Convention.
After 1 January 2011, the requirements of the validation of a European patent continues to be regulated under Article 84/H of the Patents Act in its amended form as described above.