News

EU to get common patent system

The European Parliament has consented to the creation of a common patent system within the EU, a move that will make it easier and cheaper for inventors to protect their patents in Europe.

At the end of last year, 12 European Union (EU) member states, including the UK, submitted a request to launch a unitary patent system that would abolish differences between member states over patent rights. All the other member states except Italy and Spain have since declared their support for the procedure, and these two countries can still join in later if they wish to. Now the European Parliament has voted by 471 votes to 160 (with 42 abstentions) to consent to the proposal. Formal adoption of the decision is expected in March.

Commenting on the news, Dr Anna Molony said: “This decision of the European Parliament will enable the launch of an EU patent system covering nearly all of the EU member states, which is a great step forwards. Negotiations about this have been going on since 2000, with lack of agreement on which language to use preventing its implementation.”

She added: “The new EU patent will significantly reduce the costs of obtaining patent protection in the participating countries because, unlike the current European patent application system, applicants will not face large translation and validation costs once a Community patent is granted. This will bring the costs of obtaining a patent in Europe more into line with the costs of patenting in the US.”