Amendment passed providing legal privilege to patent attorneys before Danish courts

On May 17 2018 the proposition to amend the Administration of Justice Act (for further details please see “Legal privilege for patent attorneys before Danish courts”) was passed in Parliament. The most important issue relates to the introduction of a legal privilege for patent attorneys. Danish industry and patent attorneys have worked for the introduction of such a legal privilege for several years.

The amendment provides European patent attorneys with legal privilege similar to that of lawyers. It enters into force on July 1 2018 and the legal privilege is retroactive. As a general rule, from this date a European patent attorney may not be called as a witness before the Danish courts and his or her written advice may not be used as evidence. The amended act was passed unanimously with 100 votes, which reflects the unconditional support gained by the proposal from all political parties represented in Parliament.