France Ratifies London Agreement on Patent Translation

Thanks to my esteemed colleague Thaddeus J. Burns for pointing to the InfoWorld report on October 10, 2007 that the French Senate has ratified the London Agreement. According to their analysis of the European Patent Office's announcement (in French only):

Ratification of the agreement means patent applicants will need to submit their patents in only one language: French, English or German, the three official languages recognized under the three decades-old European Patent Convention.

. . . The issue of translation has been one of the main obstacles to the creation
of a Community Patent, but others remain. Patent holders still need to register
their EPO-approved patent in every country they want to protect it, and patent
disputes are fought in national courts under that country’s patent code.

More on the London Agreement here.