The European Commission adopted two plans to both “address” IP infringement and look at “protection and enforcement” of IP in the EU.
In a press release from the European Commission (EC), the European Union announced plans to “better protect and enforce intellectual property rights” in Europe. The two separate communications are an Action Plan “to address infringements” and a Strategy “for the protection and enforcement” of IP rights in “third” countries – nations outside of both the European Union and the EFTA (European Free Trade Association).
The Action Plan “sets out a number of actions” which will focus IP enforcement policy on “commercial scale” patent infringement, which the EU calls the “follow the money” approach, whilst the Strategy, focusing on an international approach, will look at “recent changes” and “ways to improve” the EU’s work to “promote enhanced” IP standards in nations outside of Europe, as well as “stem the trade” in patent-infringing products in Europe.
The EU noted that patent registrations “more than doubled” between 2003 and 2012, but in 2012 alone, 90,000 cases of goods suspected to infringe patents were registered by EU Border Control agencies, which is a stark increase on the 27,000 registered in 2005. In turn, it estimates that the annual loss to the world economy from intellectual property infringement now totals around €200 billion ($273 billion).
The Action Plan will look at “engaging in a dialogue with stakeholders [to] reduce profits from commercial-scale infringements on the internet”; promoting due-diligence among those “involved in [the] production of goods” that feature a high level of IP; helping small businesses to enforce IP rights by “improving court procedures”; and improving member state cooperation and training so as to achieve “faster preventative actions” across the continent.
The Strategy meanwhile will continue trying to improve IP frameworks globally; working with other nations to “address systemic IP issues and key weaknesses”; again assisting SMBs with IP cases; and providing and promoting “awareness of appropriate IP-related technical assistance” to other nations.
The steps outlined in both the Action Plan and Strategy are set to be “launched and carried out” both this year and next year, with the European Parliament, member states and others implored to “actively contribute to the work ahead”, with the EC considering at a later point “whether further, potentially legislative, measures are necessary”.