In Europe, patenting is the luxury of the rich. If you want to protect your intellectual property across the EU, you can start in Munich at the European Patent Office - but then you have to translate the application into as many languages as countries for which you seek protection. You also pay extra for each country added.
And what if you run into a legal fight afterwards? You could end up battling it in several courts at once, in several languages, across the continent. It is a system only a lawyer could love - and so far, all efforts by the European Commission to reform it have been blocked by protectionist or nationalistic power plays in one country or another. The first step to a borderless technology market should be patent reform.
At present, it can cost €150,000 to file a patent across the EU, due to the high translation and administration costs. That's at least 20 times as high as in the US.
The European patent should work legally and cost-wise as it does in the US: one patent; one language; one court. All existing patent offices could become branch offices of the European Patent Organisation and could be scaled down eventually but doing so might treble the number of patents.
Reform can favour innovation
We should not delegate the subject of innovation to intangible issues like entrepreneurial culture, etc. We need tangible measures that create incentives for innovators regardless of whether they are inventors or small or medium companies. The fact that one patent in all European countries costs €150,000 (due to all the translations, etc.) and the fact that to defend it one needs to litigate if necessary in 27 countries, makes it almost impossible for individuals or smaller companies to protect their developments and consequently exploit them economically or get royalties for them. The financial hurdle is too high and the reward is too small (and not always believed). In the US you are protected for less than 1/20th of the cost (ca. $5,000) and the legal system helps you to earn millions if your concept becomes successful or is being used by others.
A lower hurdle and a higher reward create much more innovative activity in the US than in Europe where we seem to have a high hurdle and a low reward. Europe is lagging in important areas like bioscience, digital equipment, software and IT, etc. When money can be made and the entry hurdles are not too high, a lot of energy can be mobilised in Europe as we saw during the bubble of the New Economy. The New Economy proved that a lot of energy is available in Europe when monetary incentives are visible for entrepreneurial innovation.
The EU should therefore also shift the norms for litigation on patents in favour of the inventors. We want to become a knowledge-based society where the creators of know-how and knowledge get priority over protection of the economic interest of the producers. This also forces the producers to become more innovative.
European patent system reform has been discussed for many years but it is paralysed by multi-interest groups. The EU wants to show strength in decisions for progress so it should make it politically clear that this is a measure that clearly supports the goal to become the leading knowledge-based society.
Mr Schoeller is the chairman of Schoeller Industries and the president of Europe's 500 Entrepreneurs for Growth. This article was the result of his participation in the Europe+ Think Tank, whose results were presented at the La Baule World Investment Conference at the end of June.
• The Think Tank is headed by Sir Francis Mackay and is administered by 12 international experts drawn from the world of business, government and academia. The consultation process identified 66 measures to be put in place, including patent reform.
http://www.europeplus.org
And what if you run into a legal fight afterwards? You could end up battling it in several courts at once, in several languages, across the continent. It is a system only a lawyer could love - and so far, all efforts by the European Commission to reform it have been blocked by protectionist or nationalistic power plays in one country or another. The first step to a borderless technology market should be patent reform.
At present, it can cost €150,000 to file a patent across the EU, due to the high translation and administration costs. That's at least 20 times as high as in the US.
The European patent should work legally and cost-wise as it does in the US: one patent; one language; one court. All existing patent offices could become branch offices of the European Patent Organisation and could be scaled down eventually but doing so might treble the number of patents.
Reform can favour innovation
We should not delegate the subject of innovation to intangible issues like entrepreneurial culture, etc. We need tangible measures that create incentives for innovators regardless of whether they are inventors or small or medium companies. The fact that one patent in all European countries costs €150,000 (due to all the translations, etc.) and the fact that to defend it one needs to litigate if necessary in 27 countries, makes it almost impossible for individuals or smaller companies to protect their developments and consequently exploit them economically or get royalties for them. The financial hurdle is too high and the reward is too small (and not always believed). In the US you are protected for less than 1/20th of the cost (ca. $5,000) and the legal system helps you to earn millions if your concept becomes successful or is being used by others.
A lower hurdle and a higher reward create much more innovative activity in the US than in Europe where we seem to have a high hurdle and a low reward. Europe is lagging in important areas like bioscience, digital equipment, software and IT, etc. When money can be made and the entry hurdles are not too high, a lot of energy can be mobilised in Europe as we saw during the bubble of the New Economy. The New Economy proved that a lot of energy is available in Europe when monetary incentives are visible for entrepreneurial innovation.
The EU should therefore also shift the norms for litigation on patents in favour of the inventors. We want to become a knowledge-based society where the creators of know-how and knowledge get priority over protection of the economic interest of the producers. This also forces the producers to become more innovative.
European patent system reform has been discussed for many years but it is paralysed by multi-interest groups. The EU wants to show strength in decisions for progress so it should make it politically clear that this is a measure that clearly supports the goal to become the leading knowledge-based society.
Mr Schoeller is the chairman of Schoeller Industries and the president of Europe's 500 Entrepreneurs for Growth. This article was the result of his participation in the Europe+ Think Tank, whose results were presented at the La Baule World Investment Conference at the end of June.
• The Think Tank is headed by Sir Francis Mackay and is administered by 12 international experts drawn from the world of business, government and academia. The consultation process identified 66 measures to be put in place, including patent reform.
http://www.europeplus.org