MEPs to demand more time for IP deliberation

MEPs who are at odds with each other over how best to protect intellectual property rights, are to unite in demanding more time for deliberation. A joint resolution, which will be approved by Socialist, Liberal and centre-right MEPs next Thursday (12 October), follows the unveiling of the European Commission’s plans for patents last week (28 September).

Charlie McCreevy, the internal market commissioner, opted for a big tent approach to patents, aiming to improve on the current scheme run by the Munich-based European Patent Office (EPO), while working towards the community patent that has proven so elusive. Previous attempts to introduce an EU patent previously met with stiff opposition from member states and the business community. Software patents, rejected last year by the European Parliament, have also caused ructions.

McCreevy expressed approval for the European Patent Litigation Agreement (EPLA), a scheme that would be governed by the EPO, which is an arm of the European Patent Organisation, an intergovernmental body with 31 members. Member states adhering to the current EPO system, which is enforced on a complex country-by-country basis involving expensive translation costs, are not represented by any EU institutions. The Commission-backed EPLA, however, would harmonise patent laws across Europe (including non-EU countries) and see the creation of a European Patent Court. Such a system could include the software patents that were rejected by the Parliament, largely by Socialist deputies, last year.

The centre-right EPP-ED group in the Parliament strongly favours the EPLA approach arguing that it would simplify procedures and reduce costs for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). German MEP Klaus-Heiner Lehne said: "We have now opened the door for EPLA, but with further assessments. The important thing is that the EU has become interested in the EPO process. The easiest way [forward] would be if the EU became a member of the EPO. We simply think that what is happening there belongs to the legislative competence of EU institutions, not member states."

Critics, including the Socialists, believe, however, that the EPLA solution would be costly, especially for SMEs. Austrian Socialist MEP Maria Berger, party spokesperson for legal affairs, expressed hope that the community patent approach will eventually win over. "The situation is now far more relaxed," she said.

"McCreevy made a rather sharp turn in what he said in Parliament, that he found the reasons [for doubts over EPLA] legitimate. It was a key turning point. We will ask the Commission to further explore all ways and means of creating a cost-effective patent system in Europe, not necessarily to give up the idea of the community patent." Socialist resistance to EPLA may partly be motivated by fear that software patents would be introduced through the back door.

Elias Konteas, adviser for intellectual property issues at UNICE, the European employers’ federation, insisted that both EPLA and the community patent could co-exist. "The community patent is still an option. I don’t think that one excludes the other. It would be interesting to see the two systems integrated, but this would require a lot of thinking," he said. "We’ve always been in favour of a common litigation system. We support the idea of a community patent, but if the Commission proposes something that does not produce something of high quality, it’s not going to work."

MEPs who are at odds with each other over how best to protect intellectual property rights, are to unite in demanding more time for deliberation. A joint resolution, which will be approved by Socialist, Liberal and centre-right MEPs next Thursday (12 October), follows the unveiling of the European Commission’s plans for patents last week (28 September).