NOVEMBER 2008
Europe/Middle East
• Make or break for Community patent European Commissioner Charlie McCreevy has said that progress on patent reform "requires the acceptance of political realities and pragmatic solutions". 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.
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