Brussels, 17/07/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 16 July 2008, the European Commission adopted a Communication on a new industrial property rights (IPR) strategy for Europe. It recommends three types of measures to develop a high quality IPR system for EU companies: effective enforcement on the ground against counterfeiting and piracy by improving coordination between key enforcement actors at national level and the signing of agreements involving both the public and private sector; - carrying out studies on the quality of European system patents granted by the European Patents Office and the European system for trade marks awarded by the Harmonisation Official for the Internal Market; improved access for European SMEs and IPR and alternative procedures for resolving litigation on intellectual property, such as mediation. The Commission will also publish before the end of the year, a green Paper on the quality of agricultural products, which will cover the question of protection of geographical origin. It will also assess the feasibility of this kind of protection for non-agricultural products.
The communication also underlines the “crucial importance” for the European Union to complete the dossiers on the Community patent and competent European jurisdiction for resolving patent litigation (EUROPE 9671). The Commission will be exploring ways of defining payment structures in an effort to enhance protection for the future Community patent and facilitate SME access to this legal protection. (M.B/trans/fl)