The European Parliament has decided not to recommend the European Commission to include a proposal for mutual recognition of patent laws in Member States in a package of innovation legislation which is under construction.
The recommendation was included in a resolution covering various aspects of innovation policy; although much of the package was approved, the patent law proposal was defeated after two parliamentary groups, the EPP-ED and ALDE, asked for a split vote on the relevant passages.
The Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII) last week condemned the EU's 'Consultation on the future of the Community Patent in Europe', arguing that it has "serious flaws", and had lobbied strongly against the mutual recognition proposal.
"The mutual recognition of national patents would result in a flood of patent suits all over Europe, lower-quality standards, and ever more software patents, among other things, because patent applicants would shop around to find patent offices that are most willing to grant patents which would then be valid in the entire EU," said the FFII in a statement on Wednesday.
FFII welcomed the Parliament's vote, but emphasized that campaigners should
participate in the ongoing Commission consultation. "There will be many
more and bigger challenges ahead as the Commission prepares new proposals concerning
patent policy. It's very important that many companies and individuals write
to the Commission before the deadline on 31 March," said FFII, adding that
it has received complaints about the exclusionary nature of the consultation
from many SMEs across Europe.
The call for mutual recognition of patents had been sponsored by Klaus Heiner
Lehne MEP. Lehne, a German conservative, holds a job as a lobbyist with the
law firm Taylor Wessing, which handles many cases of patent litigation especially
in his home town of Dusseldorf and represents large corporations in many areas
of commercial law.
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