Overeenstemming over EU-Octrooi (en)

Met dank overgenomen van Pools voorzitterschap Europese Unie 2e helft 2011 i, gepubliceerd op dinsdag 6 december 2011.

An agreement advanced by the Polish Presidency may reduce the cost of obtaining the protection of inventions in the EU by as much as 80 percent .

An agreement on the vital elements of the patent package substantially advanced by the Polish Presidency may reduce the cost of obtaining the protection of inventions in the EU by as much as 80 percent. - This is good news for the development of innovative enterprises - stressed Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy, Waldemar Pawlak after the meeting of the EU Competitiveness Council (COMPET). Out of the whole patent package the only remaining issue to be decided is the seat of the central division of the Unitary Patent Court UPC (Court of the First Instance).

Polish Deputy Prime Minister announced that after 30 years of negotiations, the Council and the European Parliament, agreed on vital elements of the unitary system of patent protection. -The package will guarantee common and EU wide rules for obtaining protection of the invention for entrepreneurs and the possibility of settlement of disputes before the Unitary Patent Court (UPC) - Deputy Prime Minister Pawlak said.

In his opinion it is possible to adopt “the Warsaw Convention” - initialing of the negotiated text of the agreement creating the UPC by the representatives of EU member states - already on 22 December 2011 in Warsaw.

Deputy Prime Minister underlined that the Polish Presidency worked very hard on the patent dossier, as one of the priorities in the area of the internal market. - We agreed, amongst others, on the locations of the Court of Appeal in Luxembourg and the Patent Mediation and Arbitration Center in Lisbon and Ljubljana, as well as the basic principles of the funding of the UPC- he stressed.

The lack of an EU system of patent protection has so far constituted a barrier to the proper and effective functioning of European companies in both the EU internal market and on world markets.

Background

The package allowing for the creation of a unitary system of patent protection consists of two regulations and one international agreement creating the Unitary Patent Court: the draft regulation introducing enhanced cooperation in the field of creation of a unitary system of patent protection, the draft regulation introducing enhanced cooperation in the field of creation of a unitary system of patent protection for the relevant translation arrangements - the so-called language regime and the draft agreement creating the Unitary Patent Court and draft Statute of the Court - an international agreement.

Work on the creation of a unitary system of patent protection in the EU has lasted for more than 30 years. The negotiations conducted by the Polish Presidency have led to a political agreement, which will de facto determine the shape of the created system. The patent dossier was one of the priorities in the area of the internal market. The Working Group - in the format of the Group of Friends of the Presidency, the COREPER and the COMPET Council worked intensely. There were five trilogue meetings (the last one on 1 December) with the European Parliament, during which the issues discussed primarily related to facilitations for SMEs and coordinated entry into force of the patent package, so as to provide businesses simultaneously with the possibility to use the unitary patent and the judicial protection. The COREPER endorsed the outcome of the trilogue with the EP on 2 December. The formal procedure regarding the entire patent package will be completed at the EP plenary in February 2012, and signing of the international agreement creating the UPC is scheduled for the first half of 2012.