ANDORRA: Patent Law Enters in Force

The Principality of Andorra was, until January 2016, one of the only two European countries where it was not possible to protect inventions throughout patent applications (along with the Vatican City).

This is no longer the situation, as the Patent Law 26/2014, passed by the Principality of Andorra in 30th October in 2014, entered in force in January 2016.

In this sense, it is already possible to file national patent applications since 25th January 2016 in Andorra, after the Implementing Regulations were published in the Official Gazette of the Principality of Andorra on 22 July 2015 and the six months period as a “warm-up” phase for the Patent Office to gather the necessary human and technical resources ended.

Patent applications may be filed in Catalan, Spanish, French and English. However, in the circumstance the applications are filed in Spanish, French or English, it will be mandatory to file a translation of the claims in Catalan.

In addition, and unlike most modern patent laws, the Patent Law of Andorra provides that the patent shall be granted without substantive examination and therefore, the application and granting are reduced to a simple deposit.

The applicants who have applied for patents or utility models under the Paris Convention or as a member of the WTO, will have twelve months to claim priority from the date of the first application.

As for European Patent and Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications, it is still necessary to wait for the ratification of the agreements in order to come in force.