Following the request by 12 EU member states last week for a single European patent, the Commission has now acknowledged and put into action the prospective continent-wide patent, marking the next step towards the patent being put into legislation.
Of the EU nations, only Spain and Italy have objected over language regime concerns – an issue which has been a sticking point for a number of years.
Michel Barnier, EU commissioner for Internal Market and Services, stated that the Commission intends to establish the system for enthusiastic member states, of which Britain is one, with the hope that all member states will eventually join.
Keith Hodkinson, Chairman of intellectual property firm Marks & Clerk International, said: “The countries supporting the mini-European patent are the key markets in most industries. Having such a patent could also pave the way for reciprocal recognition of judgments and in effect create a central patent enforcement regime covering the twelve countries, which we would welcome, given the problems with the European Patent Litigation Agreement.
“If the scheme were to take off we think that a number of countries now waiting in the wings would jump in afterwards and there would be immense pressure on the remaining countries to participate.
“We don’t want another decade-long wait for the European patent as we have had with the London Agreement on translations, so this may be a way of kick starting the whole thing in the face of inward looking resistance from a few countries.”
A single patent would link separate legal approaches to patents across all 27 EU member states. At the moment, businesses operating in Europe are forced to patent products in each different nation, and face confusion and differences at all points.
Despite the existence of a central European Patent Office, translation difficulties create issues in patent law, where precise technical language is key.