COM(2007)165 - Enhancing the patent system in Europe -
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official title
Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council - Enhancing the patent system in Europe -| Legal instrument | Communication |
|---|---|
| reference by COM-number71 | COM(2007)165  |
| Additional COM-numbers | COM(2007)165 |
| CELEX number74 | 52007DC0165 |
| Document | 03-04-2007 |
|---|---|
| Online publication | 03-04-2007 |
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- 1.Gambardellea et al., Study on patents:"What are patents actually worth? - the value of patents for today's economy and society", available atec.europa.eu/internal_market/indprop/docs/patent
- 2.Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, and UK.
- 3.The 'patent premium' is the value of the patented invention net of the value of the invention if the inventor had no patent on it.
- 4.Following the agreement in the Competitiveness Council of 3 March 2003, work continued at working party level to transpose the principles of the common political approach in the proposal for a Council Regulation on the Community patent. On this basis, the Commission presented two proposals concerning the establishment of a Community patent jurisdiction on 21 December 2003. See
- 5.Ten EPC contracting states (Denmark, France, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom) signed the Agreement dated 17 October 2000 on the application of Article 65 EPC, known as the London Agreement and published in
- 6.Presidency Conclusions of the Brussels European Council (14/15 December 2006), point 29, www.consilium.europa.eu/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs
- 7.Presidency Conclusions of the Brussels European Council (8/9 March 2007), point 13,
- 8.See also the assessment of the impact of the European Patent Litigation Agreement on litigation of European patents,www.european-patent-office.org/epo/epla/pdf
- 9.
- 10.Patent Litigation Insurance
- 11.Patent litigation costs in the UK are thus substantially higher than in Germany, France, the Netherlands and other Member States. Apart from higher lawyers and patent attorneys fees, according to the authors of the studies referred to above the high level of the UK figures seems to be related to special features of the common law system. Moreover there is a certain tendency for large international companies to take their important cases to UK, whereas SMEs tend to prefer the other three States for litigation of European patents.
- 12.For details see the EPO document referred to above in note 16
- 13.Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, 'Putting knowledge into practice: A broad-based innovation strategy for the EU', COM(2006) 502.
- 14.A patent thicket refers to the potential problem that in view of the high number of patents necessary to produce a product, innovatioin in the sector is slowed down because of fear of hold-up and patent infringement litigation.
- 15.This is a new method of gaining return form a patent. 'Patent trolls' are patent owners (often investors who buy patents cheaply from failed companies) who use these rights to threaten companies with infringement actions and interlocutory injunctions, forcing them into financial settlements to avoid expensive litigation. Such threats can potentially affect an entire industry sector.
- 16.Report of the Intergovernmental Conference of the contracting states of the European Patent Organisation on the reform of the patent system in Europe, Paris, 24 and 25 June 1999
- 17.
- 18.
- 19.Implementing the Community Lisbon Programme: More Research and Innovation
- 20.Contract research, collaborative and co-operative research, licensing, pooling of resources, publications and exchanges of skilled researchers between the public and private sectors.
- 21.Public research organisations represent about one third of the total
- 22.Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions
- 23.COM (2004) 718 final, 22.10.2004.
- 24.Report by John Dryden, Deputy Director Science Technology and Industry OECD, to Third Global Congress on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy, Geneva January 30 2007, figure originally quoted was
- 25.
- 26.Calculations assume that an average patent has 16 pages of descriptions and 4 pages of claims, with translation cost of
- 27.4 pages of claims x 85 euros x 8 languages (2 of the 3 EPO languages
- 28.Since IT, ES, BE, OS and FIN are not signatories to the London Agreement, they would still require a full translation. NL, SW and DK are assumed to select English as preferred language under the Agreement.
- 29.4 pages of claims x 85 euros x 8 languages
- 30.4 pages of claims x 85 euros x 8 languages
- 31.From 1 January 2007, the Community patent would cover 27 Member States. The claims would be avalaible in all official Community languages (except, under the current transitional period, in Irish). Therefore, each Community patent would require translation of the claims only into 21 languages.
- 32.4 pages of claims x 85 euros x 21 languages.
- 33.4 pages of claims x 85 euros x 2 languages.
- 34.European Innovation Scoreboard 2006 published by Pro Inno Europe, an initiative of DG Enterprise and Industry (see www.proinno-europe.eu)
- 35."Study on evaluating the knowledge economy what are patents actually worth? The value of patents for today's economy and society"
- 36.Gambardellea et al., Study on patents:"What are patents actually worth? - the value of patents for today's economy and society", available atec.europa.eu/internal_market/indprop/docs/patent
- 37.Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, and UK.
- 38.The 'patent premium' is the value of the patented invention net of the value of the invention if the inventor had no patent on it.
- 39.Following the agreement in the Competitiveness Council of 3 March 2003, work continued at working party level to transpose the principles of the common political approach in the proposal for a Council Regulation on the Community patent. On this basis, the Commission presented two proposals concerning the establishment of a Community patent jurisdiction on 21 December 2003. See
- 40.Ten EPC contracting states (Denmark, France, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom) signed the Agreement dated 17 October 2000 on the application of Article 65 EPC, known as the London Agreement and published in
- 41.Presidency Conclusions of the Brussels European Council (14/15 December 2006), point 29, www.consilium.europa.eu/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs
- 42.Presidency Conclusions of the Brussels European Council (8/9 March 2007), point 13,
- 43.See also the assessment of the impact of the European Patent Litigation Agreement on litigation of European patents,www.european-patent-office.org/epo/epla/pdf
- 44.
- 45.Patent Litigation Insurance
- 46.Patent litigation costs in the UK are thus substantially higher than in Germany, France, the Netherlands and other Member States. Apart from higher lawyers and patent attorneys fees, according to the authors of the studies referred to above the high level of the UK figures seems to be related to special features of the common law system. Moreover there is a certain tendency for large international companies to take their important cases to UK, whereas SMEs tend to prefer the other three States for litigation of European patents.
- 47.For details see the EPO document referred to above in note 16
- 48.Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, 'Putting knowledge into practice: A broad-based innovation strategy for the EU', COM(2006) 502.
- 49.A patent thicket refers to the potential problem that in view of the high number of patents necessary to produce a product, innovatioin in the sector is slowed down because of fear of hold-up and patent infringement litigation.
- 50.This is a new method of gaining return form a patent. 'Patent trolls' are patent owners (often investors who buy patents cheaply from failed companies) who use these rights to threaten companies with infringement actions and interlocutory injunctions, forcing them into financial settlements to avoid expensive litigation. Such threats can potentially affect an entire industry sector.
- 51.Report of the Intergovernmental Conference of the contracting states of the European Patent Organisation on the reform of the patent system in Europe, Paris, 24 and 25 June 1999
- 52.
- 53.
- 54.Implementing the Community Lisbon Programme: More Research and Innovation
- 55.Contract research, collaborative and co-operative research, licensing, pooling of resources, publications and exchanges of skilled researchers between the public and private sectors.
- 56.Public research organisations represent about one third of the total
- 57.Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions
- 58.COM (2004) 718 final, 22.10.2004.
- 59.Report by John Dryden, Deputy Director Science Technology and Industry OECD, to Third Global Congress on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy, Geneva January 30 2007, figure originally quoted was
- 60.
- 61.Calculations assume that an average patent has 16 pages of descriptions and 4 pages of claims, with translation cost of
- 62.4 pages of claims x 85 euros x 8 languages (2 of the 3 EPO languages
- 63.Since IT, ES, BE, OS and FIN are not signatories to the London Agreement, they would still require a full translation. NL, SW and DK are assumed to select English as preferred language under the Agreement.
- 64.4 pages of claims x 85 euros x 8 languages
- 65.4 pages of claims x 85 euros x 8 languages
- 66.From 1 January 2007, the Community patent would cover 27 Member States. The claims would be avalaible in all official Community languages (except, under the current transitional period, in Irish). Therefore, each Community patent would require translation of the claims only into 21 languages.
- 67.4 pages of claims x 85 euros x 21 languages.
- 68.4 pages of claims x 85 euros x 2 languages.
- 69.European Innovation Scoreboard 2006 published by Pro Inno Europe, an initiative of DG Enterprise and Industry (see www.proinno-europe.eu)
- 70."Study on evaluating the knowledge economy what are patents actually worth? The value of patents for today's economy and society"
- 71.De Europese Commissie kent nummers toe aan officiële documenten van de Europese Unie. De Commissie maakt onderscheid in een aantal typen documenten door middel van het toekennen van verschillende nummerseries. Het onderscheid is gebaseerd op het soort document en/of de instelling van de Unie van wie het document afkomstig is.
- 72.De Raad van de Europese Unie kent aan wetgevingsdossiers een uniek toe. Dit nummer bestaat uit een vijfcijferig volgnummer gevolgd door een schuine streep met de laatste twee cijfers van het jaartal, bijvoorbeeld 12345/00 - een document met nummer 12345 uit het jaar 2000.
- 73.Het interinstitutionele nummer is een nummerreeks die binnen de Europese Unie toegekend wordt aan voorstellen voor regelgeving van de Europese Commissie.
Binnen de Europese Unie worden nog een aantal andere nummerseries gebruikt. Iedere instelling heeft één of meerdere sets documenten met ieder een eigen nummering. Die reeksen komen niet overeen met elkaar of het interinstitutioneel nummer.
- 74.Deze databank van de Europese Unie biedt de mogelijkheid de actuele werkzaamheden (workflow) van de Europese instellingen (Europees Parlement, Raad, ESC, Comité van de Regio's, Europese Centrale Bank, Hof van Justitie enz.) te volgen. EURlex volgt alle voorstellen (zoals wetgevende en begrotingsdossiers) en mededelingen van de Commissie, vanaf het moment dat ze aan de Raad of het Europees Parlement worden voorgelegd.
- 75.Als dag van bekendmaking van een Europees besluit geldt de dag waarop het besluit in het Publicatieblad wordt bekendgemaakt, en daardoor in alle officiële talen van de Europese Unie bij het Publicatiebureau beschikbaar is.