No agreement on Community patent
The EU's Competitiveness Council failed to reach an agreement on a Community patent when it met on 14 November. Jurisdictional arrangements were once again the sticking point for the ministers, according to Danish Minister for economic and business affairs and Chair of the Competitiveness Council, Bendt Bendtsen. 'It is [...] with great regret that I note that it has not been possible to reach an agreement at today's meeting on the general principles for the jurisdictional arrangements of the Community patent. Differences remain too important between those Member States that retain a strong wish for decentralised courts and those Member States that prefer a more centralised model,' said Mr Bendtsen on 14 November. The proposed regulation aims to create a single patent that would be valid across the EU. It would be granted by the European Patent Office in accordance with the requirements laid down by the European Patent Convention. The proposed Community Patent Court (CPC) would consist of both a central chamber and decentralised chambers located in different parts of the Community. At previous meetings, one delegation rejected to the notion of selective decentralisation of the CPC, which in its view would result in discrimination against those Member States that do not qualify for a regional chamber. Some countries are opposed to the proposed interval between the establishment of the central chamber and that of regional chambers. The Commission and several other countries believe, however, that such a transition is necessary to enable the central chamber to develop a coherent jurisprudence and working methods. 'I fully share Commissioner Bolkestein's disappointment over the fact that it was not possible for us to make further progress on the Community patent at today's meeting. That is why I have decided to put this dossier on the agenda of the next Competitiveness Council on 26 November 2002,' said Bendt Bendtsen. At the conference to launch the Sixth Framework Programme, which took place in Brussels between 11 and 13 November, the lack of progress on the establishment of a Community patent was described as regrettable by a number of people, including Enterprise and Information Society Commissioner Erkki Liikanen and Deputy Director-General of the Commission's Enterprise DG, Heinz Zourek. Manuel Desantes, Vice President of the European Patent Office went so far as to say: 'There is no development without innovation and there is no innovation if there is no patent system.'