The European Commission has repeated its demand for a single European patent, stating that the absence of such protection is hindering the growth of technology companies in the European Union.
Currently, it is possible to file and prosecute applications before the European Patent Office (EPO), but after allowance, the patent needs to be ratified in countries of interest on a country-by-country basis. Since the London Agreement came into effect, most countries have waived translation fees, reducing costs. However, patents need not be ratified everywhere, creating problems since the EU, by definition, does not have internal barriers to transportation of goods, making enforcement of patents difficult since goods once within EU, cannot be stopped at customs. Furthermore, different national courts may come to different understandings re scope and validity of the same patent.
“The IPR system also needs to be improved by the creation of a Community patent for innovative ICT companies to protect their inventions in the single market,” it said.
“Today Europe represents 34% of the global information and communication technologies (ICT) market, and its value is growing by 4% per year. However, the value added produced by the EU’s ICT sector amounts to only 23% of the total, because both Europe’s market and research efforts are fragmented,” said a Commission statement. “As a result, Europe is lagging behind its global competitors in ICT research and in the production of innovative ICT-based products and services.”
“The fragmentation of the European market for innovative ICT products and services is one of the main factors behind the low investments and slow development of high-growth SMEs [small and medium sized enterprises],” said its proposal. “Little interlinkage can be seen in the ‘knowledge triangle’ between innovation, R&D and education policies that are often drawn up in isolation by different ministries or at different levels. The consequences are: duplication of efforts, lack of critical mass, difficulties in addressing common challenges jointly and, in the end, sub-optimal returns on R&D investments.”
