Patent law in Europe

Patent law in Europe

Keyword: Patents

Europe's system for awarding patents to innovators is too expensive and too atomised. Four years into the single European market, there is still no common system for allocating patents which are valid throughout the Union. In June 1997, EU Commission DG XV(Internal Market) highlighted the problem in a paper calling on industry and national governments to submit ideas on how to overhaul the cumbersome existing system.

An article by Anette Schmitt (VDI-TZ, Germany) in IPTS Report (ISSN 1025-9384, No. 23, April 1998,pp. 29-34) is available from Global Information on Science and Technology by quoting 23383P.