On Wednesday 24 January, members of the Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) largely adopted the amended draft report on the regulation of standard-essential patents (SEP), drawn up by Marion Walsmann (EPP, German).
Four other regulations on supplementary protection certificates (SPCs), part of the package presented by the Commission on 27 April (see EUROPE 13171/1), were also put to the vote.
The first two concern the updating of two existing regulations on medical products and plant protection products. The other two are new regulations in the same two sectors, creating the possibility of giving these SPCs European status. All are the subject of reports by MEP Tiemo Wölken (S&D, German).
Standard Essential Patents
The Commission’s original text aimed to reform the SEP and licensing system to make it more transparent, efficient and fair. In particular, the regulation must create a register in which SEP must be registered. To avoid over-declarations, the Commission wants to give a centre of expertise staffed by independent conciliators the possibility of carrying out essentiality checks on certain SEPs.
Marion Walsmann’s report makes only marginal changes overall, without changing the scope or the direct issues. In the seven compromise amendments approved during the vote, the changes mainly concern the operating details of the centre of competence, the addition of a ‘SEP Licensing Assistance Hub for SMEs and start ups’ in Article 61, and the inclusion of ‘royalty-free’ SEPs.
For the rapporteur, this regulation should “bring much-needed transparency to an opaque system, make negotiations fairer and more efficient, and strengthen Europe’s technological sovereignty” by “putting an end to the over-declaration” of technological patents.
However, a number of patent and intellectual property organisations have expressed a number of reservations and criticisms of the text and her report. Rian Kalden, Judge at the Court of Appeal of the Unified Patent Court, said that the proposed regulation would lead to delays and additional costs. Michael Fröhlich, Director of the European Patent Office, said that the Commission’s proposal introduced “radical” changes that would result in “excessive regulatory burdens and delay access to justice”. For IP Europe, this regulation is not based on any real need, and will only dissuade patent holders from sharing their patents.
Additional certificates
The four regulations on supplementary certificates were also approved by parliamentarians. A number of compromise amendments were also voted for each text, including the extension of the duration of a patent to 5 years for human/veterinary pharmaceutical products and plant protection products. The creation of a European value for these certificates and the reduction in the costs of the certification procedure were welcomed by the text’s rapporteur, Mr Wölken.
See the compromise amendments to the SEP regulation: https://aeur.eu/f/ajz (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)