PoLAnD
tHE sMALLER nUMBER of PAtEnts VALID In PoLAnD AnD GRAntED
BY tHE PoLIsH PAtEnt offICE WILL BE CoUntERBALAnCED BY An
InCREAsInG nUMBER of EURoPEAn PAtEnts
the Polish Patent Offi ce or by the EPO, which has ended the Polish Patent
the London Protocol
Offi ce’s monopoly. Also, validating an EP is cheaper than going through the
States that are party to the London Protocol, but don’t share one of the EPO
separate national or PCT national phase procedures.
languages, must accept a situation in which the European patents valid in
On the other hand, at present, there are not many reasons for applicants,
the territory of that state are published in a foreign language.
either domestic or foreign, to choose the Polish Patent Offi ce procedure in
At present, the Polish government is considering acceding to the London
order to obtain a patent valid in Poland. Th e Polish Patent Offi ce acts slowly
Protocol. Th is proposition is rooted in pressure from global corporations
and the procedure is sometimes diffi cult. Th ere are areas, such as computer-
aiming to reduce the costs of patent protection worldwide. However, it
related inventions, where obtaining a patent is practically impossible.
seems that there are no advantages to be gained for Polish entrepreneurs or
society, for the following reasons:
Th ese consequences of accession are a sign that the patent environment
in Poland is undergoing an important transformation. Nowadays, the • Poland is a country in which IP consciousness is generally low. When the
Polish Patent Offi ce still grants a considerable number of patents each number of foreign-owned patents is expected to grow, it makes sense to
year. However, as the procedure takes fi ve to seven years on average, these reinforce the availability of the Polish patent system to these passive patent
are patents granted to applications fi led before Poland’s accession to the
system users. For now, while Poland is not party to the London Protocol,
EPC. Th e number of such applications remaining in Patent Offi ce fi les
the full EP patents are published in Polish. Th is should continue
is decreasing, which will lead to changes in the near future. Th e smaller • Foreign languages are not widely spoken in Poland, and certainly not
number of patents valid in Poland and granted by the Polish Patent Offi ce at the level required to understand patent publications. It should be
will be counterbalanced by an increasing number of EPs. And considering
emphasised that there is a large gap between the language capabilities of
the small number of Polish EP applicants (and subsequently EP patent
the scientifi c community and business, especially small businesses
owners), it is easy to foresee that, shortly, most valid patents in Poland will • Even disregarding the growing ‘patent concentration’ in the Polish market,
belong to foreign entities. domestic fi rms are mostly helpless when confronted with competition
www.worldipreview.com World Intellectual Property Review Digest 2009 131
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