A patent agency can assist you, for instance, in preparing and formulating your patent application. There are some strict requirements regarding what the patent application must contain already at the time of filing. There are also strict requirements regarding time limits or deadlines during the case processing of patents. The patent agency will be able to assist in keeping track of these, as well as various payments such as annual fees.

Norwegian applicants in Norway

You are not obliged to use a patent agent in Norway, that is to say you can run the whole application process yourself if you wish to do so, but situations can arise in which a patent agent can protect your rights better.

Norwegian applications in other countries

Some countries require you to use a patent agent for all correspondence. If you are going to apply for patents in other countries, it is therefore important to check whether this is the case in those countries where you wish to apply for a patent. It may be wise to use the same, Norwegian agent throughout the processing of the national first application, the international phase and the regional phase, provided the agent is authorised to act before the European Patent Office (EPO). It is also possible that individual countries will require an authorised representative.

Foreign applicants

Foreign applicants who extend their applications to Norway do not need to use a representative. Until recently all communication between the Norwegian Industrial Property Office and the applicant took place in Norwegian, but the rules were amended with effect from 1 January 2015, and it is now possible to request communication in English.

Listing of professional patent agencies

For a list of the various patent agencies and ways in which they can assist you, you can consult the professional adviser database on the website iprhjelp.no. (This website is in Norwegian)