29/03/2007 (Agence Europe) - The Commission is likely to adopt - probably on Tuesday of next week - a communication setting out its new strategy for patents in Europe. According to a provisional version, it will propose setting up a European system for settling disputes over patents incorporating the provisions from the draft European Patent Litigation Agreement (EPLA, which was backed by the European Patents Office) and the French proposal, which was supported by other member states, to allow the EU Court of Justice to settle disputes in this area (see EUROPE 9390). The Commission would like to make progress at the same time on the Community patent, which has been deadlocked since 2003. (mb)