A proposal for a single patent system in the European Union through an “enhanced co-operation procedure” was approved by the EU Parliament Legal Affairs Committee today. The plan now will have to go before the full Parliament, and the Council of member states. According to a release, the Parliament will vote on it during its February session in Strasbourg, France (where it meets one week per month instead of Brussels), and the Competitiveness Council will examine it on 10 March.
The Parliament release said: “If the enhanced cooperation is authorised by both Parliament and the Council, the Commission will present two proposals: one on the language regime (consultation procedure) and the other establishing the single patent (co-decision procedure). The Legal Affairs Committee is calling on the Council to use co-decision procedure for both proposals.”
The proposal came from 12 of the 27 EU members in December “after the Member States concluded that no EU-wide agreement on the issue could be found within the Council. Other Member States may join the enhanced cooperation at any time,” the release said. Under EU rules, more than nine member states can join together and use the EU procedures to move rules forward if no unanimous consent can be found. This would be the second time it has been used.
The aim of the unitary patent is to streamline and make cheaper efforts to obtain EU-wide patent protection.
The release is here.