Brussels, 29/06/2012 (Agence Europe) - The European Council has agreed on a compromise regarding the European unitary patent. The central court for dealing with cases of unitary patent litigation will be in Paris, with Munich and London holding support roles.
After decades of stalemate, the European Council reached an agreement on Friday 29 June, on the creation of the EU unitary patent that aims to considerably reduce the cost of inventions for SMEs, and give fresh momentum to innovation in the EU. The agreement was reached at the price of an administrative split between Paris, Munich and London. Discussions stumbled when it came to the choice of town to host a unified court able to rule on litigation at EU level, and neither Germany, nor France nor the United Kingdom were ready to withdraw their candidature. At the end of the day, France, which highlighted the experience it had already gained in patents especially through its Institut national de la propriété intellectuelle (INPI), won the day, with the central court and president being located in Paris. Germany, which already hosts the seat of the European Patents Office (EPO), in Munich, was successful in having the unified court's administration located in the Bavarian capital. Finally, the disputes on which the European jurisdiction will have to rule will be broken down between the three court divisions depending on their specialities: Paris will be for textiles and electricity; Munich for engineering and mechanical engineering; and London will take on key sectors such as metallurgy, life science, chemicals and pharmaceuticals.
By attributing to London a division of the court that is key to that city, it was possible to break the deadlock imposed by British Prime Minister David Cameron. The agreement was also welcomed by Michel Barnier, Internal Market Commissioner, who said: “The compromise found is a decisive step towards the creation of a unitary patent and a unified patents court in the EU. The reform will allow the creation of a simplified deposit system. It will greatly reduce the cost of patent protection. All future unitary patents will finally be available in all official languages of the EU, which will allow the transmission of knowledge and benefit inventors. I trust that Spain and Italy will soon join the new regime”. Barnier advocates registration of a first unitary patent in 2014. The agreement reached on Friday must now be endorsed by the European Parliament.
The unitary patent should allow the cost of protecting inventions to be reduced by 80%, something which must be done in every country. This will entail considerable cost especially for translation. The annual cost of a patent amounts to around €32,000 for a European company, as opposed to €1,800 for an American company. The compromise found on Friday, to which the services under European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and the Danish Presidency of the EU Council contributed, covers enhanced cooperation between 25 of the 27 member states. Spain and Italy are not taking part as they have long been opposed to the decision not to translate patents into languages other than German, English and French. (EH/transl.jl)