Speciale vergadering van de Raad Concurrentievermogen moet onderhandelingen over octrooirecht vlot trekken (en)

An extraordinary meeting of the Competitiveness Council will be held in Luxembourg on Monday, 27 June under the chairmanship of Mr Zoltán Cséfalvay, Minister of State for Strategic Affairs of Hungary. The Council will focus on the general approach to be reached on unitary patent protection. The European Commission will be represented by Commissioner Michel Barnier responsible for Internal Market and Services.

Regulations on the creation of unitary patent protection and the applicable translation arrangements

As part of the Single Market Act (IP/11/469), on 13 April, the European Commission tabled a package of two legislative proposals (IP/11/470) under the enhanced cooperation procedure that will reduce the cost of patents in Europe by up to 80%. This will allow any company or individual to protect their inventions through a single European patent which is valid in 25 Member States. The proposed regulations lay down the terms and conditions for obtaining unitary patent protection, its legal effects and the applicable translation arrangements. The draft regulations are now with the Council and the European Parliament for consideration.

At the Council meeting, the Commission hopes that agreement will be reached on a general approach to start negotiations with the European Parliament. Further to this agreement, an inter-institutional trialogue will follow. The Commission hopes to settle on a final text of the agreement during the Polish Presidency.

Obtaining a patent in Europe currently costs ten times more than one in the US because of national validation and translation costs. This situation discourages research, development and innovation, and undermines Europe's competitiveness.

More information: http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/indprop/patent/index_en.htm