Brussels, 03/07/2012 (Agence Europe) - The fate of the European patent is getting desperate. France, the United Kingdom and Germany successfully reached an agreement on 28-29 June after months of quarrels on the location of the future seat of the Unified Patent Court. They thus removed the final remaining obstacle to the unitary European patent but it is now the turn of the European Parliament to raise its voice and complicate the final resolution of this dossier, which has been the subject of controversy for more than 30 years.
On Monday evening in Strasbourg, the EP effectively decided to postpone its vote on the whole of the “patent package”, which was initially planned for Wednesday 4 July. This decision was made because the agreement reached at the European summit between the three candidate countries for the location of the Unified Patent Court does not correspond to the compromise reached between the Council and the EP last December. Everything should have been concluded during this period under the Polish Presidency and only the question of the seat of the Unified Patent Court needed to be decided. After months of prevarication, the United Kingdom, France and Germany subsequently got what they wanted at the last summit but it is precisely the concession granted to the United Kingdom (so it does not block an agreement), which sparked anger among MEPs. The United Kingdom had already succeeded in having London selected as the city that would be responsible for dealing with disputes relating to the chemical and pharmaceutical sector and also succeeded in ensuring that the remit of the European Court of Justice (CJEU) would be limited, by suggesting that regional and local tribunals no longer be allowed to call on the CJEU. In December, however, the compromise reached between the EP and the Council stipulated that these local and regional courts could go to the CJEU in certain cases (with regard to interpreting the regulation on the patent and the International Convention as the basis of jurisdictional architecture).
In a press release, the EP denounced the fact that this agreement between the heads of state and government effectively constitutes a decisive break with procedures. It therefore postponed its vote until it receives sufficient explanation and clarification from the Council on the agreement reached on 29 June. The legal affairs committee will also examine the subject on 10 July but the vote at the EP is now not expected before the autumn.
On Tuesday morning in Strasbourg, the president of the European Commission also expressed a number of reservations about the agreement reached on 29 June between the three countries. According to reports by AFP, José Manuel Barroso said that the agreement was unfortunately reached at the price of removing significant Community elements from the original proposal. He indicated that this situation now required an assessment from the three institutions. In Brussels, Olivier Bailly, Commission spokesman, confirmed the position of the European executive and said that although the agreement reached between Paris, London and Berlin went “in the right direction” (Herman Van Rompuy described it as historic on Friday 29 June), they needed to be certain that this really was progress and that the effective functioning of the European patent system was guaranteed, which would require a little more time.
The EP was initially expected to validate three reports on the subject: creating the patent, the language regime chosen (a three language regime) and the legal system. The Parliament only has a binding opinion on the first part and the regulation on setting up the patent (the three articles on recourse to the CJEU have been removed).). The three rapporteurs who negotiated with the Council are Klaus-Heiner Lehne (EPP, Germany), Bernhard Rapkay (S&D, Germany) and Raffaele Baldassarre (EPP, Italy). (SP/transl.fl)