EU seeks to break patent translation deadlock

A proposal on translation arrangements for a future EU Patent, the final element needed for a single EU Patent to become a reality, was presented on the 1 July 2010 by the European Commission.

Obtaining a patent in Europe today costs ten times more than one in the US. This situation discourages research, development and innovation, and undermines Europe's competitiveness. That is why Europe needs to act so that innovators can protect their inventions at an affordable cost with a single patent covering the entire EU territory with minimum translation costs and without needing to validate that patent at a national level as they currently have to do.

The new proposal builds on the successful three language system at the European Patent Office (EPO) and, if adopted, would drastically reduce existing translation costs.

• Primary Source

ESO: Background information: Patents http://www.europeansources.info/record/website-patents/

ESO: Background information: EU patent to make or break Belgian Presidency http://www.europeansources.info/record/eu-patent-to-make-or-break-belgian-presidency/

European Commission: Press Release, IP/10/870: Patents: Commission proposes translation arrangements for future EU Patent http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/10/870&format=PDF&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

European Commission: CORDIS: FP7: ICT ... Language Technologies: PLuTO http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/language-technologies/project-pluto_en.html

Website: European Patent Office http://www.epo.org/

---