[A2k] IHT: A new attempt to streamline EU patents

[Vera Franz]

[ Converted text/html to text/plain ]
A new attempt to streamline EU patents
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/03/business/ip.php[1]
Bloomberg News
Tuesday, April 3, 2007

BRUSSELS: European Union regulators Tuesday proposed creating a single EU-w=
ide
patent and a centralized court to handle disputes over inventions, part of =
a
bid to break a deadlock over how to mend Europe's fragmented intellectual
property system.

The plan, published Tuesday, follows more than a year of negotiations with
companies and EU countries led by Charlie McCreevy, the EU's internal marke=
ts
commissioner. A similar debate broke down in 2004 when governments failed t=
o
agree on the languages to be used under an EU system.

"Patents are a driving force for promoting innovation, growth and
competitiveness, but the single market for patents is still incomplete,"
McCreevy said in a statement. "In today's increasingly competitive global
economy Europe cannot afford to lose ground in an area as crucial as patent
policy."

McCreevy said last week that this would be his only attempt at harmonizing =
the
patent system, raising concern among some companies that national interests
may again block an agreement. Some of the ideas in the proposal, such as an=
 EU
patent, were first circulated 40 years ago.

"This could be Europe's last chance for a long time," Klaus Dieter Langfing=
er,
senior vice president of global intellectual property at BASF, the world's
largest chemical maker, said during a recent interview.

Companies currently must comply with rulings from national courts throughou=
t
the EU, a policy that the commission said may prevent smaller firms from
protecting their innovations.

A European patent designating 13 countries is about 11 times more expensive
than a U.S. patent and 13 times more expensive than a Japanese patent,
according to the commission's proposal.

This gap "must be significantly reduced," the commission said. EU patents
would be more affordable, legally secure and therefore "far more attractive=
"
than what is available now.

The 22-page plan, which combines ideas from an eight-year-old draft by the
European Patent Office and EU governments, will be considered by national
ministers and lawmakers before the Brussels-based European Commission, the
EU's executive arm, makes a formal proposal.

Europe needs a specialized European Patent Judiciary that would deal with
patents issued by the EU and by the European Patent Office, which does not
belong to the EU, the commission said. The European Court of Justice, the E=
U's
top court, would become "the final arbiter," it proposed.

National courts in Britain, Germany, France and the Netherlands together
handle more than 90 percent of current patent litigation, the regulator sai=
d,
leading to costs of as much as =E2=82=AC1.95 million, or $2.6 million, for =
a company
that defends its patent separately in those four countries.

Litigation before a European patent court would cost between =E2=82=AC97,00=
0 and
=E2=82=AC415,000, before any appeals, allowing companies to save as much as=
 45
percent in legal costs, according to the commission.

The European Patent Office opened in 1978 to establish a harmonized patent
system in Europe and today has 32 member countries. It acts independently o=
f
the EU and is governed by the European Patent Convention, which follows EU
rules closely.

--
Vera Franz
Program Manager
Information Program
<www.soros.org/ip[2]>
Open Society Foundation
100, Cambridge Grove
London W6 0LE
phone +44 20 7031 0219
fax +44 20 7031 0247

=3D=3D=3DReferences:=3D=3D=3D
  1. http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/03/business/ip.php
  2. http://www.soros.org/ip