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Sunday, June 17, 2007

German EU Presidency on Future Patent Politics.

my earlier posting I had reported about

EU Council Document 8566/07 devising a questionnaire related to the Commission Communication on enhancing the patent system in Europe and addressed to the Working Party on Intellectual Property (Patents). Now, the results have been published with

Document 10710/07:

"[...] 1. On 4 April 2007, following the conclusions adopted by the Competitiveness Council on 4 December 2006 and the European Council on 8-9 March 2007, the Commission presented a Communication on enhancing the patent system in Europe (doc. 8302/07).

2. The above-mentioned document as well as the questionnaire issued by the Presidency (doc. 8566/07) formed the basis for the discussions in the Working Party on Intellectual Property (Patents) on 3 and 11 May and 1 June 2007.

3. The purpose of the present report is to inform the Permanent Representatives committee of the outcome of these discussions and to provide a basis for the continuation of Working Party discussions during the incoming Presidency.

4. Delegations broadly welcomed the Commission's approach, which involves the continued search for effective solutions concerning the Community Patent as well as support for a single, European-wide patent jurisdiction. They shared the Commission's opinion that, in order to achieve significant added value compared to the status quo in both of these areas, any solution at EU level must be closely aligned with the outcome of the consultations that the Commission held with stakeholders last year."

There seems, however, to be no clear position concerning the EU Community Patent:

"5. Several delegations were in favour of reopening the discussion on the Community Patent in the light of certain issues mentioned in the Communication, particularly with regard to simplifying the language regime. Some Member States expressed openness toward diverging from the approach contained in the 2003 Common Political Approach and rejected by European business associations (translation of claims into all official languages), with some Member States referring to the London Protocol as an appropriate model for the Community Patent. The delegations welcomed the Commission's initiative to continue - together with the Member States - its efforts to find effective solutions that would lead to a considerable reduction in translation costs."

Nothing appears to be really new. Concerning litigation, a very few core principles appear to be unanimously supported by the EU Member States:

"6. As to the Commission's compromise approach to the establishment of a single patent judiciary, no delegation questioned the general principles that, once established, any effective litigation system would have to be decentralised at first instance, have a centralised appeal court and make use of technical expertise in the proceedings. However, there was a widespread feeling that more clarity was needed with regard to the factual details underlying these general principles, which might otherwise be subject to varying interpretation and understanding among the Member States, and that without a common understanding, no true consensus could be achieved. [...]"

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