The European Commission wishes to limit the translation of the future EU patent to three languages: English, French and German (see Europolitics4010). The draft regulation, presented on 1 July on translation arrangements for the future EU patent, tackles the toughest issue of the negotiations. Indeed, the language question proved to be the main point of friction in the talks on setting up a single EU patent in all the member states. The Commission maintains that with this proposal the processing costs of securing an EU patent, valid in all 27 member states, will not be more than €6,200, of which only 10% for translation.

The proposal is based on the existing language rules of the European Patent Office (EPO). The patent would be issued in one of the EPO’s official languages (English, French or German) and would be published in the same language, which would be the legally binding text. The publication would include translations of the claims – the section of the patent defining the scope of protection of the invention – into the other two EPO official languages. No further translations into other languages would be required from the patent proprietor except in the case of a legal dispute concerning the EU patent (Article 3 of the proposal). In that case, the patent proprietor could have further translation expenses. For example, he could have to supply a copy of the complete patent in one of the official languages of the member state where an alleged infringement has occurred or in one of the languages of the member state where the alleged offender is domiciled. The proprietor would also have to provide a full translation of the EU patent in the language of the court hearing the proceedings, at its request (Article 4).

REDUCING COSTS

The aim is to reduce the costs of patents in the EU and to simplify the existing system while encouraging the dissemination of information on patents in all the EU official languages. These costs are ten times higher in Europe than in the United States: a European patent validated in 13 countries, for example, can cost up to €20,000, of which nearly €14,000 in translation alone, which makes it ten times more than a US patent, which comes to around €1,850. Under the European Patent Convention, a proprietor must register a patent in every European country where he wishes to have protection and must therefore have the claim translated into each of the national languages selected. This “discourages research, development and innovation and undermines Europe’s competitiveness,” notes the Commission. “That is why Europe needs to act so that innovators can protect their inventions at an affordable cost with a single patent covering the entire EU territory with minimum translation costs and without needing to validate that patent at a national level as they currently have to do.”

The new proposal, if adopted by the Council, will considerably cut translation costs, “to one twentieth of their current level, thanks to the use of automatic translation,” said Commissioner Michel Barnier (internal market). “I hope that the member states will act quickly to ensure the EU patent becomes a reality,” he added.

ACCOMPANYING MEASURES

Measures to make the patent system more accessible to innovators are also included in the Commission’s proposal (Article 6.2). High quality machine translations of patent applications and claims will be made available in all the official languages at no cost. These will be provided for information purposes and will not have legal effect. The EPO has already developed these translations for a few languages and the Commission is supporting the PLuTO, Patent Language Translations Online project, which aims to extend this system to all other official EU languages. In addition, inventors from EU countries whose official language is not one of the three selected will be able to file their applications in their own language, with subsequent translation costs reimbursed. “The deployment of the EPO’s machine translation programme has no impact on the EU budget,” states the proposal.

REACTIONS

Arnaldo Abruzzini, secretary-general of Eurochambres, the European Association of Chambers of Commerce, welcomed the proposal, which constitutes a “reasonable compromise”. He added that “it is specific measures like the EU patent that will really make a difference for our entrepreneurs and innovators. […] The ongoing absence of a single patent system in the European Union represents a significant constraint on activity and on economic recovery and growth. We hope this will be the final episode of the saga of the EU patent.”

The scheme is not revolutionary. The earlier (2000) version ended up in a stalemate, and considering the unanimity required by Article 118 TFEU to approve the language rules applicable to the EU patent, the saga does not seem to be close to its end because a stalemate prompted by Spain or Italy cannot be excluded. The European Parliament will be consulted on the proposal.

The proposal is available at www.europolitics.info > Search = 275762

The saga does not seem to be close to its end because a stalemate by Spain or Italy cannot be excluded