Intellectual property rights are an essential pre-requisite for innovation. They are economic assets whose value to companies and to European industry as a whole is of strategic importance. Innovation is the source of welfare because it constantly provides new products, improved performances and new technology. But innovation requires significant investments and risks. Intellectual property rights, and more particularly, patents, encourage creative activity by allowing to those who take risks and invest money in innovation to have a legitimate return on their investment.
A patent gives an inventor the right for a limited period of time to prevent others from using, (re)producing, offering, or selling his invention without his authorization. In return, the inventor must disclose the details of his invention in a patent document that is made available to the public. Consequently, a patent represents a delicate balance between an inventor's right to commercially exploit his inventive idea and the dissemination of technical and scientific knowledge to the public. Furthermore, the limited duration of a patent encourages a rapid commercialization of inventions to the benefit of the public.
Patent protection in Europe is at present mainly ensured by two systems: the national patent systems and the European patent system.
The Community patent, under negotiations within the European Union (EU), is intended to provide a single and unitary protection title valid throughout the EU.
The European patent
Patents can be filed on a national basis through the national patent offices of each European country. Almost every state in the world has its own patent system. Choosing the national route will ensure patent protection territorially - in other words, only in the selected country. National patent systems have been effectively harmonized with the 1973 European Patent Convention, regarding, in particular, patentability, validity, and the extent of protection.
The European patent system is based on the 1973 European Patent Convention (EPC) signed in Munich. The EPC established the European Patent Organisation for the grant of European Patents. It introduced a centralized unitary granting procedure managed by the European Patent Office (EPO). The EPO is a separate international organization with its own administration and headquarters in Munich.
The EPC does not create a uniform protection right but it provides the applicant with patent protection in as many of the contracting states as he chooses on the basis of a single patent application and a single grant procedure. There are 28 contracting states to the EPC, (the 15 member states of the European Union pre-enlargement, and from the new member states Poland, the Slovak Republic, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Slovenia, Hungary, as well as Romania, Bulgaria, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Switzerland, and Turkey). Several non-contracting states - Albania, Croatia, Lithuania, Latvia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia - have concluded an extension agreement with the EPO, providing European patent applicants with an efficient way of also obtaining protection in these countries.
The single granting procedure of the European patent system does not replace national granting procedures. The applicant seeking patent protection in one or more contracting states of the EPC has the choice between the national procedure in each state for which he desires protection and the European way, which with a single procedure confers protection in all designated contracting states.