Donderdag Octrooidag
Speech Commissaris Interne Markt Charlie McCreevy. Closing remarks at public hearing on future patent policy in Europe. Brussels, 12 July 2006.
Simplifying the structure and procedures for patent grant and litigation; We will refrain from exploring initiatives for further harmonisation of patent law, beyond what is already de facto achieved by the European Patent Convention; There will be no new initiative in the area of the computer-implemented inventions during my term as Commissioner.
But our task is all the more difficult as patents policy is decided in a number of independent fora, thus giving many of you a headache and doing European business no favours. Despite repeated calls for improvement, little progress has been made in any of these fora over recent years.
(…) The European patent system: Options for the future. It is now apparent that our priorities must focus on: Simplifying the structure and procedures for patent grant and litigation; Decreasing the cost of obtaining a patent, in particular with regard to smaller businesses; and Last but not least, maintaining and improving the quality of patents.
The European Patent Litigation Agreement is seen as a promising route towards more unitary jurisdiction. Therefore, I will ask my services to explore the possibilities of moving this project forward. However, you should be aware that there are some institutional hurdles to be tackled if the Community is to become involved in the EPLA initiative. Furthermore, stakeholders differ on the degree of centralisation or the nature of the local first instance courts.
Although the subject was not at the heart of my consultation, the quality of patents in Europe, particularly in new technology sectors, is of paramount importance to the users of the system.
(…) Last, but certainly not least, we must make sure that small and medium enterprises, the backbone of European economy, have access to the patent system, unhindered by complex procedures and high costs. In that respect, we will look carefully into the idea that many SMEs put forward in their contributions: an alternative dispute resolution system, in the form of mediation or arbitration, for certain patent cases.
Having said all that, there are also areas where stakeholders did not express much enthusiasm for Community involvement. We will therefore refrain from exploring initiatives for further harmonisation of patent law, beyond what is already de facto achieved by the European Patent Convention. Also, as I said before, there will be no new initiative in the area of the computer-implemented inventions during my term as Commissioner.
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