Finding a "compromise" on the single European patent, an instrument that would allow the protection of inventions throughout the EU and would guarantee the reduction of up to 80% of the costs incurred by companies for administrative procedures and translation costs. This was requested by the president of the European Commission, Josè Manuel Barroso, speaking in Strasbourg for the start of the semester of the Danish-led European Council. On the day in which the new rotating presidency presented itself to the renewed European Parliament, Barroso has forcefully re-launched the issue. "We must reach an agreement on the European patent as a matter of urgency," he urged. “After having discussed it for decades, I now expect negotiations that can complete the process under the Danish presidency” of the EU Council. In essence, Barroso gives six months to eliminate all the knots that still need to be resolved.
Currently obtaining a patent is complex and expensive. Once issued by the European Patent Office (EPO), a patent must be validated in all Member States where the inventor wishes it to be protected. Alongside the administrative procedures, the procedure involves translation costs, often high. It has been calculated that to protect one's invention throughout the EU a company can pay up to 32.000 euros, against the approximately 1.850 euros paid on average in the United States. The single patent would therefore lead to great savings, but two major main issues remain on the project: the language and the seat of the patent court. For the language, the initial hypothesis was the use of English only, but France and Germany considered this option as detrimental to the value of their languages, and asked that French and German also be included in the forms, raising the ire of Italy and Spain and triggering a 'language issue' still unresolved today. For the venue, Great Britain, France and Germany each claim for themselves to host the court: currently the seat is in Munich, and the Germans would like it to stay there. Also because – the line they make Berlin prevail – one out of three patents is German. But Italy has also insinuated itself with the Monti government: the Minister for Community Policies, Enzo Moavero, at the end of December asked the Danes to reopen the terms for the candidacy, placing Milan as the 'fourth wheel'.
Barroso today therefore addressed the three main protagonists of the controversy. "I call on the three member countries of France, Germany and Great Britain, to quickly find a compromise." What is happening, rebuked the president of the EU Commission, “is frankly unacceptable. It is unacceptable that such a crucially important initiative is stalled over such trivial disagreements”. Europe, concluded Barroso, "needs to innovate in order to grow", innovation is "strongly penalized by the complex and costly rules that we have been trying to overcome for decades".
