Geen overeenkomst over Europees patent (en)

EU competitiveness ministers again failed yesterday (11 March) to come to an agreement on a patent that could be used throughout the EU.

Few were surprised by the failure since the negotiations over creating a single European patent has been ongoing for 30 years.

Ministers reached an agreement in principle last year, but rows over translation have since scuppered progress. According to Bloomberg, Spain wants more legal status to be given to incorrectly translated documents than Germany can accept.

The idea behind an EU-wide community patent is to reduce costs for innovative businesses wishing to protect an invention by patent. A patent covering eight EU countries for eight years costs about 30,000 euro, approximately double the cost in the US.

Reaching agreement on the patent, therefore, is crucial for the EU's "Lisbon strategy", which aims to make the EU the "most competitive economy in the world by 2010". Much of this strategy focuses on innovation and helping businesses to compete in a global market.

Failure 'undermines Lisbon'

And internal market commissioner Frits Bolkestein said that the failure undermined the strategy.

"The failure to agree undermines the credibility of the whole enterprise to make Europe the most competitive economy", he said.

"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".

"It's a sad state of affairs", he concluded, adding that he was "bitterly disappointed".

His spokesman Jonathan Todd had previously attacked member states for failing to live up to their promises to implement proposals such as the patent and make progress on the Lisbon strategy.

"If ever there was an example of ministers' declarations failing to fulfil actions on the ground - this is it", blasted Mr Todd.