Call for new method of awarding patents in EU

Date: 19/06/1997

By Chris Johnstone

EUROPE'S costly and complicated system for awarding patents is to be targeted for action by the European Commission.

Internal Market Commissioner Mario Monti is due to launch a debate on patents next week with a Green Paper calling for ideas from industry and government on how the current system should be shaken up.

Europe has no quick method of awarding patents which are valid throughout the Union.

Although a patent office exists in Munich, with a back-up centre for documentation and archives in The Hague, it can only give a general clearance of the originality of a product seeking protection and pave the way for the next step in the process: sending the patent file separately to all the national authorities in the countries where the company or individual is seeking protection.

This procedure requires documents to be translated into all the relevant languages and opens up the possibility that a patent may be awarded in one EU country but blocked in another.

It is at national level that the process becomes costly and expensive, according to the European Patent Office (EPO). “Receiving a patent in Europe is one of the most complicated things you can do,” admitted a spokesman for the Munich office, adding: “Translation accounts for around 80&percent; of the costs.”

Business agrees. “Getting a European patent is much more expensive than in Japan or the United States,” said a spokesman for European employers' lobby UNICE. “The procedures at the EPO are three times more expensive than in the US and four times more than in Japan.”

The EPO says it costs firms around 30,000 ecu to get a patent and have it validated in eight countries - the average number of approvals sought by firms - for ten years. However, a 20&percent; cut in EPO charges is promised in July.

Normally it takes just over three years for a patent to be checked and become valid at national level. A fast-track procedure which takes around one year merely considers the originality of an invention, leaving it to the owner to decide whether to take the procedure further.

Critics of the current system say cutting the number of working languages needed to get Europe-wide patent coverage would be one of the simplest ways of cutting costs and saving time.

One idea suggested by UNICE is for a cheaper fast-track procedure for small and medium-sized businesses.

The EPO itself has called for cost reductions by only requiring summaries of certain patent applications to be translated into some languages.

The office also backs the idea of the EPO itself taking on responsibility for investigating and validating patents, thus cutting out the need to approach national offices separately.