Businesses lose out by failure to agree EU patent

Failure to agree on the introduction of a single, unified patent, enforceable across the EU could be costing European businesses some €200m (US$176m) a year. According to Edward Lyndon-Stanford, senior partner at intellectual property specialists Marks and Clerk, this is the potential cost saving achieveable by reducing the cost of patenting and litigation.

'As the EU expands, the current system of awarding patents either on a national basis or through the European patent office in Munich, requiring availability in 12 EU languages in order to be valid throughout the European Union, will gradually become more unwieldy, time-consuming and expensive.' he warned. But the introduction of the community patent, proposals for which were due to be discussed at a European Council meeting in December 2001, could reduce the cost of patenting by up to 40%.

He cites the main barriers to the introduction of the community patent as language, legal certainty and litigation. In order to avoid the cost of a multitude of languages, the patent must be in English or in one of a few languages, while to ensure legal certainty, it should be granted by the European patent office in Munich, Lyndon-Stanford suggests. And in terms of litigation procedures, there must be a single court system, though with branches in each state or group of states, with modernised procedures and technical judges.

'These challenges are significant, but if the EU wants to be a serious competitor in the global economy, they must not be allowed to become insurmountable,' Lyndon-Stanford states. 'As well as helping to make the EU the world's most competitive economy, the community patent will supercede the present confusion of different patent rights in the various European states, in different languages and different courts.'