The European Union patent (EU patent), formally European Patent with unitary effect, also known as the Community patent, European Community Patent, or EC patent and sometimes abbreviated as COMPAT, is a proposed patent legislation in the European Union, which would allow individuals and companies to obtain a unitary patent throughout the European Union, with the exception of Spain and Italy. During the European Council of 28–29 June 2012, agreement was reached on its provisions between 25 of the 27 member states of the European Union. Italy and Spain had decided not to take part as a result of the proposed language scheme, which uses English, German and French at the exclusion of other languages.
The proposed EU patent is closely related, but different from the European patent, which is granted under the 38-state European Patent Convention. European patents, once granted, become a "bundle of nationally enforceable patents", in the states which are designated by the applicant. The EU patent would, once established, be designated after granting of the European patent, with validity in all participating countries. The system reduces translation requirements (by focusing on the three languages of the European patent: German, English and French), maintenance fees (with a single fee for the whole area) and provides for judicial procedures for a court with effect in all countries.
Read more about European Union Patent: Implementation, Unified Patent Court, Costs
Famous quotes containing the words european, union and/or patent:
“European society has always been divided into classes in a way that American society never has been. A European writer considers himself to be part of an old and honorable tradition—of intellectual activity, of letters—and his choice of a vocation does not cause him any uneasy wonder as to whether or not it will cost him all his friends. But this tradition does not exist in America.”
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)