European Patent Office signs contract with Google

30 November 2010 - The European Patent Office and Google have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to improve access to patent translations in multiple languages.

Today, if anyone wishes to register a patent it is only compulsory to do it in one of EPO's official languages - English, French and German.  And if a company or an individual is willing to translate their patent into any other languages of those countries where the patent is planned to be applied, they would to do it at their own cost. As a result, obtaining EU patent coverage via professional translation agencies appears to be very expansive. This means that a lot of patent information is just not available in many countries. And it contributes greatly into difficulty of finding relevant field data for those who are willing to make a research on certain type of patents.