On 1 January 2025, a new and modernised Swedish Patent Act entered into force, replacing the Patent Act from 1967.
The new Patent Act further aligns Swedish patent legislation with the European Patent Convention (EPC), the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (UPC), and the Directive 2004/48/EC on the enforcement of intellectual property rights, and includes several beneficial changes for applicants and patentees.
In addition to linguistic modernisation and a more accessible structure, including separate paragraph numbers for each chapter, applicants are likely to appreciate the new possibility of having more than one invention searched and examined if the patent application is considered non-unitary.
Regarding the knowledge requirement for indirect infringement, the new wording that the infringing party “knows or should have known” may prove more beneficial to patentees than the old wording “knows or is obvious from the circumstances.”
Similarly, the language defining infringing products that can be subject to corrective measures such as the destruction or removal of a product from the market has been broadened to refer to [a] “product which the infringement concerns” instead of the previous wording “products manufactured without the consent of the patent proprietor.”
Regarding formalities, there is no longer a requirement for representatives to submit a Power of Attorney for patent applications or oppositions. However, an agent must still have a Power of Attorney to act on behalf of the client, and the Swedish Intellectual Property Office may request its submission, for example, upon a change of representatives.
Pending patent applications filed before the new Swedish Patent Act's entry into force will be processed in accordance with the Patent Act of 1967, while granted patents will be handled in accordance with the new Patent Act.
As the new legislation has only recently come into effect, the full impact remains to be seen.
