EU patent: Parliament gives go-ahead for slimmed down system without Italy and Spain

The European Parliament this week gave its backing for a common EU patent system to be created using the enhanced cooperation procedure, which allows legislation to go-ahead without the approval of all Member States.

After long years of discussion and ongoing arguments about the rules for translating patents into different European languages, twelve Member States made a request for the enhanced cooperation procedure to be launched in December 2010. This followed intensive negotiations during Belgium’s EU Presidency, when it was finally concluded that not all the Member States could agree on an EU-wide patent system.

All the other Member States except Italy and Spain have since indicated they will sign up to the procedure. These two countries can still join in at any time if they wish. Parliament gave its backing for the procedure to go ahead by 471 votes to 160, with 42 abstentions.

Languages a bone of contention

Following this vote, the Council of Competitiveness Ministers is expected to formally adopt the decision authorising enhanced cooperation on 9-10 March.  The Commission will then submit two legislative proposals: one on establishing the single patent and the other on the language regime.

Member States have been trying to agree on an EU-wide patent system for years but languages were a particular bone of contention. Currently, national patents can coexist alongside a European patent issued by the European Patent Office, (a non-EU body) but the system is complex and expensive. A European patent can be 10 times more expensive than a comparable US patent.

The single patent system, abolishing differences between Member States over patent rights, should make it easier and cheaper for inventors to protect their intellectual property throughout the EU and help tackle infringements.

Under the Lisbon Treaty, enhanced co-operation allows a group of Member States to adopt new common rules when a unanimous EU-wide agreement cannot be reached.

The procedure can only go ahead if the Council authorises it, on the basis of a Commission proposal, and after the European Parliament has given its consent. Patents become the second case of enhanced cooperation, the first being the divorce law approved in 2010.