In August 2000 the Commission presented a regulations proposal
for the institution of a community patent, destined to finally
offer the Union’s businesses an adequate innovations protection
through a single legal instrument, consenting a more effective
utilization of new knowledge and the consequent promotion of private
investments in research and development. One of the principal
objectives of the proposal is the decrease of patent costs, which
would make the Community patent a more agile instrument in the
hands of businesses and would be able to make the European Union
more competitive on a global level. Currently, the protection
of innovations is guaranteed by two systems: the national patent
and the European patent. However, both of these are regulated
by various national laws, and have a territorially limited effectiveness.
The proposed system will not substitute the present ones, but
will coexist with them, so as to leave the proprietor full power
of selection on the type of protection considered most suitable.
The Community patent, valid for the entire Community territory
rather than that of the single Member States, would be issued
by the European Patent Office, to which the Community must comply
– following modifications to the Munich Convention –
to be then transferred or annulled only by the whole of the Member
States. According to the proposal, for reasons of certitude of
law the applicant will need to present a translation in all the
Community official languages. The jurisdictional system will be
based on a patent jurisdiction chamber competent in first degree;
its decisions will be appealable in front of the Court of first
instance. The procedure will be held in the defendant’s
official language, unless a different language is requested by
the parts and with the consent of the Court.
So far, negotiations have been extremely complex. There are
three main problems that need to be solved. These have produced
a stalemate in negotiations, although under the Italian Presidency,
in November 2003, an agreement was nearly reached. The three main
problems are:
• The legal value of the translations of claims;
• The time frame for the depositing of the translations;
• The centralization of all invalidity and falsifications
controversies in one judge.
Recently, as Commissioner McCreevy forecast to the press, the
Commission launched a new initiative in the attempt to unblock
the Community patent proposal. It has been blocked for some time
in order to be inspected by the Council. Reasserting that the
Community patent represents a priority among the policies for
the relaunching of European industry competitiveness, the Commission
has formally initiated a consultation, to be concluded on March
31, 2006, in order to involve society, institutions and other
interested parties in a reflection on the best way to realize
a European patents policy. The results of the consultation will
be made public on June 13, 2006.
