Belgian EU presidency to push for Community patent
The Belgian presidency of the EU hopes to boost progress towards the creation of an EU-wide patent at the Internal Market Council on 27 September. The presidency pinpointed the creation of an EU-wide patent as one of the keys in fulfilling the construction of the European Research Area (ERA) - one of its research priorities. It now hopes to break the deadlock over the Community patent by proposing bilateral negotiations with Member States on an EU-wide patent regulation. Progress has stalled due to differences in interpretation of the common approach agreed by EU ministers in June 2001. Since then, there has been disagreement within the Council on the interpretation of the agreed approach, which covered issues such as affordability, legal security and non-discrimination between EU citizens. The dispute hinges around two issues - who will pay for the translation of patents into different languages, and how the patent fees will be divided up. Italy, Portugal and Spain want the patent applications and summaries of future patents to be translated into all official EU languages. The European Commission proposed the creation of an EU-wide patent on 5 July 2000. Under the proposed system, companies and inventors would have a choice between obtaining a single EU patent valid throughout the European Union or applying for national patent via national patent offices. Under the proposal, the Community patent would co-exist with the national and current European patent systems. The high cost of patenting is often seen as one of the reasons why Europe is lagging behind the USA and Japan in the development of a knowledge-based economy. The Commission fully supports Council efforts to come an agreement on the issue, but has not proposed a specific timeframe within which an agreement should be reached. The Council will further debate the issue on 27 September, and adoption by the parliamentary committee is expected on 6 November. This is expected to be followed by a final agreement in Council on 26 November and a European Parliament plenary vote on 28 November 2001. A Belgian presidency conference on community patents will take place on 29 November 2001 in Liège, Belgium.
Kraje
Belgium