PATENT REFORM
Intellectual property is a booming business these days, and Europe’s myriad personalities are seen as a hindrance to cheap and effective patent protection. A European patent is obtainable, but enforcement is riddled with practical problems. WIPR examines
the proposed centralised litigation system and how it would affect IP professionals on the ground.
Te Court of Justice (formerly the European Court of Justice) has a decision to make. It could ratify the Draſt Agreement on the European and European Union Patents Court (EEUPC) and declare it compatible with EU treaties. Te draſt agreement, as it stands, makes provisions for a whole host of things that seem to divide the opinion of the companies and patent attorneys who might benefit from them.
Te court could also go the other way. It could agree with Advocate General Kokott, who signed the opinion that decided that the draſt agreement was incompatible with EU treaties. If the court agrees, this would mean that the current draſt agreement would need redraſting—a process it has undergone several times already, over several years.
As options go, these do not seem like very good ones.
When the European Council requested the opinion of the former ECJ under article 3000(6) of the EU Treaty, it was responding to complaints from countries that the EEUPC draſt agreement is illegal under EU law. It seems these complaints were backed by the Advocate General, who found that the draſt agreement, among other things, proposed a prejudicial linguistic system and could not guarantee full implementation and respect for the rule of EU law.
Several things seem to be getting in the way of a patent litigation system that would affect many different companies, attorneys and inventors. But a new European litigation system needs to function correctly from the outset if it is going to be of any use.
www.worldipreview.com
World Intellectual Property Review November/December 2010
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