Speaking at a conference in Strasbourg organised by the French presidency of the EU, the Commissioner for the Internal Market and Services reaffirmed his belief in the need for both a Community patent and unified patent litigation system to benefit European SMEs.
"Now, what is needed most is the political will to reach a compromise," he said. "And once a political agreement is reached, the required legal instruments will already have been agreed."
McCreevy said that an EU Community patent is needed to "put an end to the fragmentation of the market in patents and reduce unnecessary costs and red tape".
But he acknowledged that "stumbling blocks" remain over linguistic and translation requirements, as well as the setting and distribution of annual maintenance fees.
As for the unified patent litigation system, a draft agreement and statute already exist. But, said McCreevy, issues still to be resolved include the link with the European Court of Justice, the role of technical judges and rights of representation.
McCreevy said the lack of agreement so far means Europe's innovators and SMEs suffer a "serious competitive handicap" and Europe lags behind countries such as the US, Japan, Korea, India and China.
But he acknowledged the difficulties in reaching agreement, saying: "After decades of protracted discussions, where people have been safeguarding numerous self interests, the moment has now come for decision making. Either we make it or we break it."
