14/03/2011
At its meeting on 10 March the Council authorised the launch of enhanced cooperation on the creation of a unitary patent title, in which 25 member states will participate. This is the first step towards a streamlined and less costly patenting system. This complex issue has been discussed for decades.
A reform of the current patent system in Europe is deemed necessary to boost innovation and increase the competitiveness of European businesses by simplifying patenting procedures and reducing their costs.
The enhanced cooperation procedure allows a group of member states to adopt common rules when an EU-wide agreement cannot be reached.
Under this procedure the 25 member states will adopt and apply two regulations: one on the unitary patent itself and the other on the patent's language regime. The enhanced cooperation will not concern the third pillar of the future patent system, namely the establishing of the unified patent litigation system (which comprises the European patent court).
The idea of using this mechanism was proposed after the member states could not reach unanimous agreement in November last year on the translation arrangements for the EU patent.
Patent translation costs
Recent studies demonstrate that obtaining a patent that would be valid, for example, in 13 member states may cost up to € 18 000, and approximately € 10 000 of that sum would be spent on translations alone.
This is because the European patent (granted by the European Patent Office (EPO), which is not an EU body) has to be submitted in each member state in which the inventor chooses to have the innovation protected. The member states often require a full-length, verified and approved translation of the patent into their official languages.
Obtaining a patent in the USA, for comparison, costs approximately € 1 850.
The future unitary patent would be valid in all participating member states and be obtained with a single application, whereas the language regime would draw inspiration from the current system at the EPO, where the working languages are English, French and German.
Further steps
The 25 member states are now waiting for the Commission proposals for the regulations on the unitary patent and on its language regime.
The enhanced cooperation will be open for those member states which are currently not participating (Italy and Spain) to join at any time, and businesses from those countries will have access to the unitary patent protection on the territory of the participating member states.
More information:
Press conference webcast
Press release (pdf)
European Patent Office
On the future patent system