Last week the Swedish government referred an amendment of the Swedish patent law to the Council on Legislation for reconsideration. According to the suggested amendment, patent applications filed in English need not be translated into Swedish. Instead, they can be granted in English.
For applicants filing a Swedish patent application in English and wishing to obtain a Swedish patent, this ought to be a major cost saver. However, many of my clients use the Swedish patent system for receiving a quick and not so expensive search and examination and then, after receiving the first Office Action, they abandon the patent application. The patent protection in Sweden is instead obtained by validating a European patent in Sweden. With the new legislation though, there can be benefits in keeping the Swedish application alive.
There will be occasions when the applicant might have to file a translation of the claims, e.g., when publishing the patent application in order to obtain provisional protection and upon receiving an intention to grant. Further, during opposition or litigation, the patentee can be requested to file a translation of the description and the abstract. It is however the claims in English that determine the scope of the patent.
When validating a European patent in Sweden, the scope is instead determined by what is present in both the claims of the European patent and the claims of the Swedish translation. This can be a problem if the translator chooses a narrower wording than the wording in the original application. Hence, one advantage with letting the Swedish patent application become a patent might be a wider scope of protection.
To sum up, the suggested amendment provides both cost savings and supposedly a wider scope of protection. Whether it will lead to an increase in filing rates, we can only guess.
If the amendment is passed, it will become effective 1 July 2014.
Update: The Council on Legislation have now reviewed the amendment and have no objections. The next step is that the Swedish government presents a parliamentary bill to the Riksdag. (25 Nov 2013)
Julia Mannesson, European Patent Attorney
