Patent package

Background

Intellectual Property (IP) is more important than ever as a driver of economic growth, with IP-intensive industries accounting for almost half of GDP and over 90% of all EU exports. The European Commission has proposed new rules to improve IP protection in Europe. These will go hand in hand with the unitary patent system that finally became operational in 17 EU countries last June after 50 years in the making.

The proposed new rules will help standardise patent legislation that still varies from country to country, particularly Standard Essential Patents (SEPs), Compulsory Licensing (CL) and Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPC).

SEPs cover technologies that are essential to make a product standard-compliant. Holders essentially get a monopoly on their technologies and are obliged to license them on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms. However, the current system is not very transparent, causing constant disputes and litigation.

CL is a last-resort tool whereby governments can allow the use of a patented invention in a crisis without the consent of the patent holder, for example, to ramp up production if there is a vaccine shortage. While many value chains across the bloc span multiple countries, each Member State has its own rules. The Commission proposes to create an EU-wide instrument.

SPCs extend the term of a patent by up to five years. It is a special right awarded only to patent holders  of human or veterinary pharmaceutical products and plant protection products, and only at national level. It is also a fragmented and costly system. The Commission wants to introduce a unitary SPC.

Key points

The EESC supports the European Commission's plan to create a centralised SPC system for European patents with unitary effect (unitary patents, UPs). However, the Committee:

• asks to further investigate the plan to create a centralised system for SEPs and to involve experts and competent authorities in the process. Such a system would certainly have potential benefits, but essentiality check essential would be a major challenge, as would establishing the FRAND terms;
• stresses that the CL system must be transparent and fair to all stakeholders (rights holders, potential licensees and the public) and respect fundamental rights. The current proposal does not meet these criteria;
• recommends that CL for crisis management (CLCM) for European and unitary patents be managed by a technically competent court like the Unified Patent Court (UPC), with clear legal and procedural guidelines.

Link to the full opinion

Additional information

EESC section responsible: Single Market, Production and Consumption (INT)

Opinion type: mandatory Commission referral

Rapporteur:  Rudolf KOLBE (AT - Civil Society Organisations)

Reference: COM(2023) 221 final 2023/0126 CODCOM(2023) 222 final 2023/0127 CODCOM(2023) 222 final 2023/0127 CODCOM(2023) 222 final 2023/0127 CODCOM(2023) 223 final 2023/0128 CODCOM(2023) 223 final 2023/0128 CODCOM(2023) 224 final 2023/0129 CODCOM(2023) 224 final 2023/0129 CODCOM(2023) 231 final 2023/0130 CODCOM(2023) 231 final 2023/0130 CODCOM(2023) 231 final 2023/0130 CODCOM(2023) 231 final 2023/0130 CODCOM(2023) 232 final 2023/0133

Date of adoption by section: 04/09/2023

Result of the vote: 57 votes in favour and none against, with 1 abstention

Date of adoption by plenary: 20/09/2023

Result of the vote: 220 votes in favour and none against, with 1 abstention

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