Unitary patent protection supports European entrepreneurship

The advantages of unitary patent protection were discussed by the delegates of the conference The Industrial Property - Today and Tomorrow, held in Sofia on 16 March 2018.

The Bulgarian delegation pointed out that Bulgaria will do its best to ratify the Protocol on provisional application of the Unified Patent Court Agreement by the end of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU i. The ratification will make it possible for countries to appeal patents before a single court, a development which will have a positive impact on business. The participants concluded that litigation at national courts has proved expensive, risky and controversial

The unitary patent protection will encourage scientific and technical progress and the better functioning of the internal market by making access to the patent system easier, cheaper and more secure from a legal point of view.

The conference was attended by Valeri Simeonov, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria, Lachezar Borisov, Deputy Minister for Economy, Petko Nikolov, President of the Bulgarian Patent Office, Francis Gurry, Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization, Benoît Battistelli, President of the European Patent Office, Christian Archambeau, Deputy Executive Director of the European Union Intellectual Property Office, and representatives of patent offices from 25 European countries.

The participants also discussed the Bulgarian commitment to transpose the Directive (EU) 2015/2436, which will provide protection for different new kind of trademarks - sound, positional, hologram and animated - by the end of 2018. The event was held under the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU.