Brussels, 19/05/2004 (Agence Europe) - The Commission does not rule out the possibility of withdrawing its Community patent proposal, Commissioner Frits Bolkestein said after the Competitiveness Council held in Brussels. Germany, Spain, France and Portugal voiced opposition to a final proposal of compromise from the Presidency, a proposal which should have been adopted unanimously (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.11).
"That I am bitterly disappointed comes as no surprise", the Commissioner noted, nonetheless welcoming the efforts made by the Irish Presidency. "The Commission will reflect on the next stages. All options are open including withdrawal of the proposal", he said. "If new arguments are not found, I do not see any reason to make new proposals", he said. The president of the Council and Deputy Prime Minister of Ireland, Mary Harney, regretted it was not possible to reach an agreement to protect inventions effectively, in a less costly way and with more legal security. She pointed out that the Netherlands, which is to take on the next Presidency, does not think it possible to reach a solution by unanimity on the basis of the result of the vote noted on Tuesday in Council. The Dutch Presidency does not, therefore, plan to resume work on this.
The dossier will be forwarded to the European Council in June. Commissioner Bolkestein recalled that the Summit has already called upon relevant ministers three times to reach an agreement as quickly as possible on the Community patent, which has been under discussion for 13 years now. "Does the European Council really have any power? There are important issues to be raised", the Commissioner asked, once again criticising the "high-flown declarations on the Lisbon process", which have not been followed up in deeds.
Frits Bolkestein also challenged the arguments put forward by Germany and Spain, for whom the Community patent would not bring any added value compared to the current European patent. "The European patent costs five times more than a patent in the United States and the Community patent would allow costs to be reduced", he noted, accusing "some States" of wanting to defend "the acquired interests" of their national patents offices. "The Commission proposal would have allowed costs to be cut by 68%", Mary Harney added.