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BLOG@IP::JURPatent Attorney Axel H Horns' Blog on Intellectual Property Law.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008EU Commission to Launch Another Patent Consultation This Summer.The chain of successive consultations on patent policy obviously never stops. Mr Robert Gehring has published an article on Golem.de, a German web magazine [in German only, sorry], reporting a conference recently held in Hamburg, Germany, about certain aspects ofthe fut ure of the patent system. The event was organised by Bundesverband der mittelständischen Wirtschaft (Federal Association of Middle-Class Enterprises, BVMW) together with Berufsverband der Selbständigen in der Informatik (Professional Association of Self-Employed Individuals in Information Technology, BVSI) and patentverein.de (Industrie-Fachverband Motor, Sensor, Automation). I have not been there but it appears from Mr Gehring's report that some of the speakers as well as many attendees did not hesitate to provide plenty of criticism concerning the present shape of the patent system; see the German text linked above for further details.One of the highlights of the event appears to have been a presentation given by Mr Jens Gaster  who is already quite well known to the readers of this Blog. And, Mr Gaster is reported to have announced another consulation later this year:"[...] Zu den strittigen Fragen kündigte er [Jens Gaster, AHH] eine Konsultation der Kommission an. Im Sommer werde es dazu eine 'Mitteilung der EU-Kommission über alle offenen Fragen im Bereich IPR geben'. Die Kommission wolle 'die Qualität von Patenten verbessern", Ziel sei 'nicht mehr Masse sondern mehr Klasse'. Im Rahmen der Konsultation wolle die Kommission auch über 'Patenttrolle' diskutieren. [...]"The EU Commission plans to publish an Official Communication on various open questions in patent politics in summer 2008. Target is to favour quality over quantity, and also dealing with the phenomenon of Patent Trolls will be on the agenda. A propos "Patent Trolls": In this context it is worth to revert to my earlier posting concerning recent Document 5954/08 addressed to the Working Party on Intellectual Property (Patents). The paper is titled "EU Patent Jurisdiction - Main features of the Court system (first part); Remedies, procedures and other measures (second part)". I had pointed out some key differences to earlier versions of that stuff. Mr. Joff Wild has spotted another vital point. He wrote in his Blog:"[...] The previous remedies document stated this on page 6: 'Injunctions should be based on the principle of equity and judges should be given criteria for weighting the interests of all the parties. In order to avoid abuse, it could be explored whether the request for injunctions should be limited to situations where the applicant manufactures or commercialises competing products.' By way of contrast, the latest version says this, on page 17: 'Injunctions should be based on the principle of equity and judges should be given criteria for weighting the interests of all the parties and avoid possibilities of abuse. Judges should be able to take into account the prejudice of the defendant if the products in question are removed from the market, in particular where the applicant does not manufacture or commercialize competing products.' [...]"Mr Wild is, of course, right to stress that the challenge therewith is that not every non-practising entity is an abusive patent troll; for example, universities and other research institutions do not sell or manufacture products, but they do do a lot of R&D - something that Europe is very keen to encourage. Hence, it looks as if we might expect some interesting discussion on NPEs (Non-practising Entities) later this year. Technorati Tags:  Patents
Some trolls in the US are just patent attorneys with a postal box. Trolls should lobby for a central court in Europe, in order to get caselaw to legalize software patents. A patent captive court might more prone to adopt the EPO case law on the issue.
Pretty amazing - the difference between how Europeans consult for years before any change, and the americans just shoot to every direction. Zeev Fisher, www.Relatip.com - Where IP professionals connect Post a Comment
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