Plans for a deal this year on the creation of an EU patent have been thrown into doubt by renewed resistance from some southern member states. Belgium, which holds the rotating presidency of the Council of Ministers, has made a priority out of reaching a compromise based on the text drawn up by the European Commission. But an Italian attack on the Commission’s plan in July has now been followed by Spain’s announcement that it is going to present its own counter-proposal.

Italy sent a confidential paper to other member states on 28 July in which it accused the Commission of “linguistic discrimination” and of making a proposal that “would harm Italian companies while benefiting the French, German and Austrian ones”. Spain harbours similar concerns about the potential impact of the proposal on its businesses.

The Italian and Spanish concerns centre on a language regime for the patent that the Commission proposed on 1 July. The Commission proposal, which largely accords with the language regime that is applied by the European Patent Office (EPO), would require at least part of a patent applicant to be translated into English, French and German. The Commission argued that this was the simplest approach, as it would work alongside the existing EPO structure – an important point as the EPO will be asked to administer the EU patent. It said that extending the regime to cover official translations into other languages would be too expensive.

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According to EU diplomats, Spain intends to narrow the language regime still further with its proposal. It would make it an obligation to present the patent application in English only, with the possibility of translating into one other language just the section of the patent that deals with the scope of an invention’s protection – the claims.

A Spanish official said that Spain will circulate its counter-proposal this week, so that it can be discussed on 8 September, when national officials meet to discuss the patent dossier.

Pushing for agreement

The Belgian presidency has invited member states to be ready to give their positions on the Commission’s proposal at the 8 September meeting. Vincent Van Quickenborne, Belgium’s competitiveness minister, has said that he wants the Council to work intensively on the patent in the build-up to a discussion among ministers on 29 September.

Belgium hopes to win consensus on the patent at a meeting of industry ministers on 10 December, so that the agreement can be showcased at a summit of EU leaders on 17 December that will focus on innovation policy.

The creation of an EU patent has been a major priority for the EU’s research community and information and communication technologies (ICT) sector for more than a decade, as it could slash patent costs in Europe. Agreeing the language regime is the last major stumbling block to getting a deal.

Bridget Cosgrave, director-general of DigitalEurope, an association representing Europe’s ICT sector, said that her association “firmly believes in the importance” of the patent, which could “bring significant improvements to the current system”.