Brussels, 21/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - EU ministers with responsibility for competitiveness repeated their desire finally to reach an agreement of the European patent and on where the central court for the unified patent litigation system will be located - a discussion which is still exercising France, Germany and the United Kingdom - but matters have not progressed. The Danish Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers set out the state of play, with Paris, Munich and London slogging it out to win the patents court. Italy, keen to have the European patent finally up and running, has proposed Milan as an alternative to the three other candidate cities. However, “the final date for submitting candidacies has already passed”, said a source. The Italian proposal did not, then, form part of the negotiations, which are still centred on the compromise of the previous Polish Presidency, suggesting that Paris, a reasonable compromise among a number of legal cultures, should host the court. On 30 January, heads of state and government pledged to find a solution by the end of June this year but the Danish Presidency would like to see the matter settled a little sooner. On Friday, Eurochambres was critical of the squabbling and reminded political leaders that not having the unitary European patent was costing European companies almost €425,000 per day, and that €31 million had been lost since the European Council of 9-10 December last year. (SP/transl.rt)