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EU has new patent rules to raise competitiveness

EU officials agreed Monday on a continentwide system for patenting inventions that is intended to boost the competitiveness of European business by bringing the costs down to levels closer to the US and Japan.

The agreement comes after decades of haggling over questions such as which languages applications should be filed in and which country's courts would have jurisdiction. EU leaders made reaching agreement a "top priority" in 2000, but missed a December 2001 deadline.

The language question was resolved late last year when the 15 EU countries agreed applications only had to be made in English, French or German. A brief document describing the patent protection still must be translated into the other official languages, if those governments ask for it.

The compromise should still halve the cost of getting a patent.
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