The Road to the Community Patent

The efforts for the establishment of a Community patent were intensified in 2008. This way, countries like Austria are trying to comply with a longstanding request of the European economy and create a patent system that is valid for the entire EU. The Community patent should be an efficient and flexible instrument at an affordable price. The following gap to the current system would be closed: so far, it was not possible to obtain automatic protection in all EU member states with a single registration upon granting of the patent. The idea is not to create any new structures, but rather more use synergy effects for the registration and granting of such a new patent right. The normal procedure up to the grant of the patent is synchronised with the procedure for the grant of a European patent and implemented by the European Patent Office. Since a central patent court is a necessary prerequisite for the enforcement of such a new legal title, the responsible EU Council Working Group has been working on both issues in parallel since May 2007.