Commission bids to salvage EU patent law[fr][de] 

The Commission published, on 3 April 2007, a communication on enhancing the patent system in Europe. It is intended to "draw operational conclusions" from the Spring 2006 stakeholder consultation and to speed up the work in the Council on the Community patent and jurisdictional arrangements. 

The Commission still believes that "a truly competitive and attractive Community patent can be achieved, provided there is political will to do so", and promises to take into account concerns about over-centralised EU jurisdiction for patents.

The EU executive proposes the creation of an integrated EU-wide jurisdictional system for patents, which would combine elements of both the draft European Patent Litigation Agreement (EPLA ) aimed at reducing litigation costs and of specific Community jurisdiction for patent litigation based on the EC Treaty. 

Member states have shown polarised positions between these two approaches to patent litigation and the Commission believes that consensus could be built on the basis of an integrated approach. "The way forward could be to reflect on the creation of a unified and specialised patent judiciary, with competence for litigation on European patents and future Community patents." 

This system would set up a number of tribunals to handle patent disputes across the EU. Their responsibilities would include infringement-related claims whereas the appeals would be heard by one single court, for example the European Court of First Instance. The final judgement on patent jurisdiction would be provided by the European Court of Justice.

"What business needs is lower patent costs as well as greater legal certainty," commented BusinessEurope, the Confederation of European Business, which fully supports ratification of the London Agreement, which would "reduce translation costs by roughly 45% and bring substantial savings for companies" and progress on the European Patent Litigation Agreement (EPLA), which is "an important initiative to develop a common litigation system providing consistent and efficient enforcement of patents moving away from the current divergent and conflicting national systems".

"Companies have voiced what they need and it is now time for action. Member states cannot claim that R&D and innovation are key for economic growth and at the same time block progress on the patent agenda," said Ernest-Antoine Seillière, president of BusinessEurope. 

UEAPME, which represents small businesses in the EU, would accept the translation of the community patent to only one language, "ideally to English" and has called upon the Commission to find a solution in this respect. "Translation requirements would further raise the administrative costs, which are often unbearable for SMEs, and hamper the SME's access to patents," said Luc Hendrickx from UEAPME.

Regarding the patent litigation system, UEAPME supports an efficient and cost-effective system as proposed by the Commission and welcomes the integrated approach put forward by the Communication, which foresees a specialised Europe-wide patent jurisdiction inspired by the EPLA and the first instance chambers. 

UEAPME regrets that no progress has been achieved in two main issues for SMEs - namely introduction of reduced patent fees for SMEs and the creation of a patent- litigation insurance system for SMEs "which has been under discussion already for nearly ten years and which is an indispensable part for an efficient SME patent policy".