Europe creeps closer to unified patent regime

While US ups federal budget to clear patent backlog

Europe took a step closer to implementing a unified patent system this week when the European Parliament gave its consent for the creation of an EU-wide regime among most of the 27 member countries.

The concept of a unified patent system has been mooted for some time. But finding agreement, especially on language, among all member countries has slowed progress to glacial pace.

In December 2010, 12 countries – among them the UK – made a request to launch an EU-wide patent regime using an enhanced co-operation procedure. This is a get-out implemented under the Lisbon Treaty that enables a group of member states to adopt new common rules when a unanimous EU-wide agreement cannot be reached.

All member states except Italy and Spain – which can still join in at any time if they wish – have indicated they will sign up to the procedure.

Currently, each EU member has a separate patent regime, which means companies that want to protect their intellectual property across the EU have to file an application in each jurisdiction, a lengthy and expensive procedure.

National patents also coexist alongside those issued by the European Patent Office, a non-EU body. Consequently, a European patent can be 10 times more expensive to establish than a comparable US patent.

Furthermore, a fragmented patent system flies in the face of one of the EU's founding precepts: a single European economic market for goods and services. Senior commissioners have also commented that the current regime inhibits innovation and economic growth in Europe.

However, while unifying the patent regime across the EU has had the political backing of the Commission and Parliament, individual states with vested interests in maintaining the quirks of national systems have been dragging their heels.

The European Council of Competitiveness Ministers is expected to formally adopt the decision authorising enhanced co-operation early next month.

The Commission will then submit two legislative proposals: one establishing the single patent under the co-decision procedure, and the other a consultation procedure on the language regime.

In a resolution, drafted by Klaus-Heiner Lehne, MEPs call on the Council to use the co-decision procedure for both proposals.

Meanwhile, the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) this week announced a 16 per cent rise in its budget for the coming year to $2.71bn, some of which will be spent on new IT systems.

The USPTO suffers from an enormous backlog of patent applications, which senior politicians have suggested is inhibiting competitiveness and economic growth.

The USPTO recently won the right to keep more of the fees raised through applications to fund its overhaul.

The new funds will go towards cutting the average overall processing time of a patent application from 35 months to 20 months by 2015, the USPTO said in a statement.

Specifically, the money will enable the USPTO to implement the Three-Track Proposal, under which patent applicants can elect to accelerate their highest priority applications and have these applications processed within 12 months for a cost recovery-based fee (Track 1); elect processing at the current average processing time (Track 2); or defer examination and the payment of fees (Track 3).