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Chapter XII
European Patent Application and European Patent
Section 69. European Patent Application
(1) The European patent application may be filed to the Patent Office, except for the divisional application. The application may be filed in any language that has been referred to in Article 1, Paragraphs one and two of the European Patent Convention.
(2) The conditions specified in Section 11 of this Law shall be applied to the European patent applications in relation to inventions that affect the interests of State protection.
Section 70. Legal Effect of the European Patent Application in Latvia
(1) The European patent application, to which the European Patent Office has accorded a filing date of application, as well as a priority date (if a priority was requested), irrespective of the result with which the reviewing thereof shall end in the European Patent Office, shall be comparable to the patent application filed to the Patent Office and completed in accordance with this Law.
(2) When the European patent application has been published in accordance with Article 67 of the European Patent Convention, a provisional legal protection shall be granted to the invention in conformity with Section 18, Paragraph two of this Law, starting from the date when the applicant communicates it to the person, who uses the invention in Latvia, sending a Latvian translation of the published European patent application’s claims to this person, or when, upon the request of the applicant, it is published in the Official Gazette of the Patent Office. The European patent application shall not have the consequences referred to in this Section, if it is withdrawn or it is deemed to be withdrawn.
(3) The Patent Office shall publish the claims of the European patent application in Latvian in accordance with Paragraph one of this Section, if the applicant pays for the publication of the claims.
Section 71. Legal Effect of a European Patent
(1) A European patent, in which Latvia is the designated state, shall grant the same rights as the national patent, starting from the date when the notification of the European Patent Office regarding the grant of a patent has been published.
(2) Within three months after the notification of the European Patent Office regarding the grant of a patent has been published in the Official Gazette of the European Patent Office in accordance with Article 64 of the European Patent Convention, the holder of the patent shall submit to the Patent Office a translation of the European patent claims in Latvian and shall pay a State fee for the publication thereof. The procedures by which the translations are submitted shall be determined by the Cabinet.
(3) If, after reviewing the opposition to the grant of a patent submitted to the European Patent Office, the European patent is maintained in force with amended claims, the proprietor of the patent shall submit to the Patent Office the translation of the amended claims into Latvian and shall pay a State fee for the publication within a time period of three months after the decision regarding the maintaining of the European patent in force was published. The provisions of Section 41 of this Law shall not be applied to oppositions against the grant of the European patent.
(4) If there are references to the drawings in the claims, these drawings shall be attached to the translation which has been referred to in Paragraphs two and three of this Section. The text present in the drawings shall be translated into Latvian.
(5) The Patent Office shall publish the translation, which has been submitted in conformity with Paragraphs two, three or four of this Section, as soon as possible in the Official Gazette of the Patent Office.
(6) If the translation referred to in Paragraph two, three or four of this Section has not been submitted or the State fee for the publication has not been paid within the time period specified in Paragraph two of this Section, the European patent shall be considered invalid in Latvia from the filing date of the patent application.
(7) The European patent in Latvia shall not have the legal effect provided for in this Chapter from the filing date of the application, if the European Patent Office, after examining the received opposition against the grant of the patent, declares the patent invalid.
Section 72. Authentic Text of the European Patent Application or European Patent
(1) The text of the European patent application or European patent in the language of the proceedings before the European Patent Office shall be the authentic text in any stage of the examination thereof in the Patent Office or court.
(2) In conformity with Section 71, Paragraphs two and three of this Law, the translation of the European patent shall be deemed as authentic, except the translation in a court case, which is related to invalidation of the European patent (Section 56), and in which the translation of the claims of the European patent application or European patent confers a narrower protection in comparison with the European patent application or European patent in the language of the proceedings before the European Patent Office.
(3) The applicant or proprietor of the European patent may submit an corrected translation of the claims throughout the whole period of validity of the European patent. The corrected translation shall come into force after the publication thereof in the Official Gazette of the Patent Office or after the applicant or proprietor of the European patent notifies it to the person, who uses the invention in Latvia.
(4) The person who in the territory of Latvia prior to the date of publication of the corrected translation, without infringing the extent of protection granted by the initially published patent application and patent translation, in good faith used the invention in his or her undertaking or for the needs of his or her undertaking or carried out preparatory works necessary for such use, is entitled to use the relevant invention further on in his or her undertaking or for the needs of his or her undertaking without hindrance and without paying remuneration to the proprietor of the patent, if the scope of user of the invention is not extended.
Section 73. Payment for Maintaining the European Patent in Force
(1) The proprietor of the patent shall pay to the Patent Office for maintaining the patent in force for each next year that follows the year in which the notification of the European Patent Office regarding the grant of the European patent. The payments shall be carried out according to the same procedures by which the State fee for national patents has to be paid in accordance with Section 43 of this Law.
(2) If the payment has to be carried out within three months after the notification regarding the grant of the European patent has been published in the Official Gazette of the European Patent Office, it shall be considered that the payment which has been carried out during this period has been carried out within the specified term. The additional fee, provided for in Section 43 of this Law, shall not be paid in the referred to case.
(3) In conformity with Article 39 of the European Patent Convention, a part of the annual payment for maintaining the patent in force shall be paid back by the Patent Office to the European Patent Organisation, according to the procedures specified by the European Patent Convention.
Section 74. Conversion of the European Patent Application in the National Patent Application
(1) The European patent application, in which protection in Latvia is requested, may be converted in the national application if the European patent application is considered to be withdrawn in accordance with Article 75, Paragraph five of the European Patent Convention or if the translation of the application, observing Article 14, Paragraph two of the European Patent Convention, has not been submitted within the specified time period in accordance with Article 90, Paragraph three of the European Patent Convention.
(2) The applicant shall pay the State fee for the conversion of the patent application within three months and shall submit to the Patent Office a translation of the application in Latvian.
Section 75. Impossibility of Simultaneous Protection
If the European patent or national patent has been granted to one and the same invention with the same filing date of application to one and the same person or successor in title thereof, or – if a priority has been claimed – with the same priority date, in such case, if the European Patent Office has not received the opposition against the grant of a patent referred to in Article 99, Paragraph one of the European Patent Convention, the operation of the national patent shall be discontinued from the day when the time period for the submission of opposition has ended, but if opposition has been received – from the day when the examination of the relevant opposition has been completed and a final decision regarding the maintaining the European patent in force has been taken. | 
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