EU achieves political breakthrough on an enhanced patent system

On December 4, the Council of the European Union unanimously adopted conclusions on an enhanced patent system for the region. The package agreed, details of which were only released yesterday, covers major elements to bring about a single EU patent and establish a new patent court in the EU. Together, these will make it less costly for businesses to protect innovative technology and make litigation more accessible and predictable. The accord will pave the way for solving the outstanding issues to achieve a major reform of the EU patent system in the near future.

Industry group EFPIA's stance unchanged

Commenting on the issue to The Pharma Letter, a spokesman for the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) said the research-based trade group's view of this is essentially unchanged to that stated in July when the European Commission's sector report came out, saying that the final version tones down earlier language and made constructive recommendations.