In an exclusive interview with Managing IP, Morgan said: “If we could get it right, the benefits for business in Europe would be phenomenal. But it’s got to be right and the devil is always in the detail.”
While discussions about a Community patent have been taking place for many years, speculation has recently intensified that this year could see a breakthrough.
Slovenia, which holds the presidency of the EU for the first six months of this year, has organized a number of meetings on the issue and France, which holds the presidency from July to December, has also signalled its support for an agreement.
Last month, sources in Brussels indicated that one of the major obstacles to a Community patent – Europe’s multi-language regime – could be overcome with mechanized translations.
Morgan said: “I would like to see all unnecessary barriers to patenting removed.” But she added: “There’s a balance between what’s practically possible and the ideal.”
She welcomed the London Agreement, which came into effect last week, saying it would “halve the costs to innovators”.
Morgan also said that a European IP court, which many see as complementary to a Community patent, had been discussed at a recent meeting of ministers in Slovenia. But she warned: “If we are going to make progress, it has to simplify and streamline the experience of litigation. It has to be workable from a UK perspective. Until then we have to keep talking.”
She said she was optimistic a deal would be done: “I wouldn’t wish to put a timeframe on it but we are definitely making the right kind of progress.”
Baroness Morgan was appointed as minister for IP and quality earlier this year, after her predecessor Lord Triesman left government to become chairman of the Football Association.
Appointed as a life peer in 2004, she was formerly chief executive of Breakthrough Breast Cancer and had held a number of other jobs in charities.
She said her experience of innovation and helping set up a research centre had taught her that “we need to work hard to make sure that the language of IP and the concepts of IP policy development are accessible and understood by those who stand to benefit from the framework”.
She added that there is a long way to go to ensure that businesses, higher education and users understand IP better.
In particular, Morgan said she wanted to see the full arsenal of weapons available under the law used to combat counterfeiting: “We want to see the Proceeds of Crime Act used to crack down on large-scale profiteering.”
Morgan was interviewed at her office in London last week. Asked who the UK would be supporting as the next WIPO director-general when the member states vote next week, she indicated that the government had not yet decided: “We’re keen to ensure that the governance framework for WIPO is absolutely an exemplar and we will be thinking about the process in the light of that ... We need a WIPO we can work with to ensure our engagement internationally is in the best possible terms. We are looking for a candidate who can promote that approach.”
The full interview with Baroness Morgan will be published in Managing IP’s June issue, available online from June 1.
