EU Fails To Reach Agreement On Community Patent

by Ulrika Lomas, for LawAndTax-News.com, Brussels

15 March 2004

Agreement on the creation of an EU-wide patent has still not been reached, after Spain and Germany failed to resolve their differences at a meeting of EU industry ministers held last week to discuss the issue.

According to reports, Spain wants wrongly translated patent documents to receive more legal recognition than Germany is prepared to accept, a situation which Internal Market Commissioner, Frits Bolkestein described as "a sad state of affairs".

Speaking following the meeting, which was chaired by Ireland's Tanaiste, Mary Harney, Mr Bolkestein observed that:

"The failure to agree undermines the credibility of the whole enterprise to make Europe the most competitive economy. I can only hope that one day the vested, protectionist interests that stand in the way of agreement on this vital issue will be sidelined."

Ms Harney, meanwhile, told reporters:

"We are not going to give up. What we need is a patent that's useable and affordable."

Speaking on her way to the meeting last week, the Irish deputy Prime Minister had observed that: "We in the Irish presidency have worked very hard to try and forge a compromise on the patent. We think it's a litmus test on the role of the Competitiveness Council and we will be working hard to try and bridge the differences."

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