EPO, European Commission Renew Commitment To Unitary Patent

The head of the European Patent Office (EPO) and the European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services today renewed their commitment to introduce a unitary EU patent, which they say would significantly ease workloads and reduce costs for patent applicants.

The effort is considered a compromise after the Commission was unable to get a full EU-wide patent several years ago. The Commission issued a proposal for a unitary patent in April (IPW, European Policy, 13 April 2011). The governments of Spain and Italy filed their opposition to the idea this summer (IPW, IP Live, 7 July 2011).

The EPO press release follows:

The President of the European Patent Office (EPO), Benoît Battistelli, met with European Commissioner for the Internal Market and Services, Michel Barnier, at the EPO headquarters in Munich today to discuss the planned introduction of a unitary patent aimed at improving the European patent system to better serve the needs of European industry. They also discussed the progress of the automatic translation system for patents, which is currently being developed in the EPO.

The visit by the EU delegation also included two Members of the European Parliament, Eva Lichtenberger and Cecilia Wikström.

“The creation of a unitary patent and a centralised, specialised European patent court is a decisive step forward to securing Europe’s position in the global race for innovation,” said EPO President Battistelli. “Creating a simpler and more accessible patent system will enable European businesses to operate on a par with firms in competing markets such as the US and Japan, which already enjoy unitary patent protection covering their territory and operate in a single language, under a single court jurisdiction,” he said.

“Facilitating access to patent protection is vital for strengthening the competitiveness of European enterprises on the global marketplace. The unitary patent will make the existing European system more affordable and more attractive for innovating businesses, especially for research institutes and SMEs,” said Commissioner Barnier. “Its objective is to stimulate research and development in technology in order to improve Europe’s capacity to innovate, and help boost economic growth in the EU. That is why the introduction of the unitary patent is also a top priority of the Single Market Act.”

The unitary patent will be granted by the EPO under the same procedure, criteria and rules for examining patentability as the existing European patent, all of which are laid out in the European Patent Convention (EPC). Its advantage will lie in the post-grant phase, when the patent will be given unitary protection effect throughout the territory of the EU member states participating in the unitary patent scheme. The unitary patent is thus expected to simplify procedures and lower the costs for applicants by up to 70%.

The EPO will continue to provide its expertise and work in close collaboration with the EU institutions in order to facilitate the implementation of this important project for the European economy.