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Spain and Italy may back down over EU Patent stance

Mon 5th Dec 2011
Spain and Italy may back down over EU Patent stance

Earlier today EU ministers agreed on outstanding issues concerning the unified EU patent, which would would see Italy and Spain dropping their opposition to the move.

In May, Italy and Spain complained to the European Court of Justice against the new procedure, which allows patents to be awarded for all 27 member states as one, as opposed to the need for patents to be applied for separately and in different languages.

The new procedure would see patent offices receiving applications in English, French and German, but Spain and Italy had concerns that this would give an unfair advantage to companies from the 'big three' jurisdictions.

Given that both Italy and Spain have recently had a change of Government, Brussels is waiting for each country to reaffirm their position. Observers have noted that the new Governments have not been particularly vocal about the subject, but that this did not necessarily mean a change of position.

If either of the two countries changed their stance, it would leave the other in the awkward position of being the only member of the EU excluded from the new system, which could be in place as soon as 2014.

Ministers meeting for the Competitiveness Council of the EU will meet this afternoon to discuss the outstanding political issues affecting the patent, where both countries will be represented.

The European Court of Justice had previously ruled that the creation of a Community Patent Court would not be compatible with the provisions of EU law, thereby casting a shadow of doubt over plans to establish a Europe-wide patent system.

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