Commission plans ‘one-stop shop’ patents

Date: 01/06/2000

By Peter Chapman

SINGLE Market Commissioner Frits Bolkestein will unveil plans for a radical overhaul of the EU's patchwork system for awarding patents next month, despite continuing question marks over how future legal disputes would be resolved.

The linchpin of Bolkestein's plan is a 'one-stop shop' EU-wide patent, which would supplement the current system of national patents run by member states and the Munich-based European Patent Office.

The move will be welcomed by European businesses, which last week called on the Union to set up a EU-wide patent by 2001. In a benchmarking report, European employers federation UNICE cited the lack of true Union-wide protection as a major competitive failing of the EU vis-à-vis its US and Japanese rivals. "The system for obtaining and protecting patents of invention in Europe is less supportive of innovation than that in the US in terms of the time taken to issue a patent approval," it said.

The new system to be proposed by Bolkestein would give Union-wide protection for all inventions granted a Community patent.

The existing regime gives inventors two choices: they can apply for a patent to any one of the EU's member states individually, or seek protection for their inventions from the European Patent Office (EPO). However, despite its name, the EPO does not grant EU-wide patents. Instead, the body - which is recognised by Union member states, Cyprus, Liechtenstein, Monaco and Switzerland - assesses patent applications instead of the national patent authority. Patents can then be granted for some or all the EPO member countries - and once they are awarded it is the responsibility of those countries to recognise them and give them the same legal protection as a national patent.

Companies complain that this system is riddled with problems. Industry has long resented what it says is the excessive cost of obtaining and keeping Union-wide protection. The average cost of applying for a patent with the European Patent Office is €30,000, plus the annual 'maintenance fees' which push the total bill beyond the budgets of many cash-strapped inventors.

Another headache for industry is the lack of legal certainty over patents, which may be challenged and even overturned by the courts in one EPO member country while still being accepted in another.

Under Bolkestein's plan, the Commission would set up a new court system, modelled along the lines of the European Courts of Justice and First Instance, to hear disputes over the validity of patents and alleged infringements. However, sources say the final shape of this part of the proposal will hinge on the outcome of this year's Intergovernmental Conference on Union treaty reform. The IGC is discussing the scope for referring more cases back to national courts in a bid to reduce the ECJ's workload and speed up judgements on key cases. However, the Bolkestein plan would lead to more cases being heard by an EU-level body.

Single Market Commissioner Frits Bolkestein is to unveil plans for a radical overhaul of the EU's patchwork system for awarding patents, despite continuing question marks over how future legal disputes would be resolved.