Progress Towards the Community Patent

In December 2009, the Council of Ministers of the European Union met in Brussels to achieve further progress towards establishment of the new Community Patent that has been under discussion for some years. The aim behind the Community Patent is to provide inventions with patent protection throughout the EU by means of a single, uniform patent. A draft regulation has now been submitted to the European Parliament for further deliberation.
The ministers also considered the creation of a single Community Patent Court that will facilitate the enforcement of patents and prevent contradictory decisions by national courts. The European Patent Court will be based on proven jurisdictional structures at national level and work in geographical proximity to the parties in proceedings. An Appeal Court will ensure consistency of patent adjudication.
Further negotiations will be conducted this year on structural details of the new court system and in particular on the issue of Community Patent languages that has been controversially debated for many years.