On 10 March 2011 Ministers from the 27 EU Member States met during the Competitiveness Council of the EU to discuss the possible creation of a unitary patent system at European level. 25 Member States (with the exception of Italy and Spain) gave their green light to cooperate towards achieving this goal, ending months of unsuccessful negotiations. Taking place under the Hungarian Presidency of the EU, the Ministers gathered are convinced that this decision will benefit all 500 million European citizens and the whole business sector, as an incentive for innovation and as a way to enhance the competitiveness of European businesses.
According to the European Commission, under the current system, a European patent validated in 13 countries costs up to €20,000, of which nearly €14,000 relates to translations. A US patent costs about 10 times less (€ 1850). The lack of a unitary patent protection incurs a loss of €700 to €800 million annually and greatly reduces the innovation capacity of Europe.
Those procedures are expensive for businesses, especially for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) which have limited financial resources to develop and grow. The medical technology industry is made up of 80% SMEs which are considered to be the engines of medical technology innovation. In 2009 the medical technology industry filed more patent applications than any other sector - almost 16,500 - equivalent to more than 12% of the total number of applications in Europe.
Having a unified patent system is an important step towards removing barriers for SMEs and in particular medical technology SMEs. It will make it easier, cheaper and more expedient for those businesses to get EU-wide protection for their inventions. The single patent will also support and stimulate their innovation, allowing them to fully exploit their own capacity to innovate and help secure the EU’s position as a competitive player in the global market.
The next step for the Hungarian Presidency is to draw up detailed rules concerning unitary patents, including specifications on the language regime. Italy and Spain excluded themselves from the process because they did not agree with the proposed rules regarding the choice of official languages. Nonetheless, both countries can still join the cooperation whenever they feel it is appropriate.
In an official statement, the Hungarian Presidency of the EU says it will do its best to keep the momentum, and expects the European Commission to submit the relevant legislative proposals soon for the Council to be able to continue its work.
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