Malta will be joining a group of European Union member states forging ahead with the creation of a simplified patent-registration system after an EU-wide agreement was blocked by other countries.
This is only the second time the EU is using its so-called enhanced cooperation mechanism, a new tool established through the EU Treaty which allows a number of member states to work together without the need for consensus across the bloc.
The first time was last March, when 10 countries, including Malta, agreed on a common system for divorce in cases where the partners come from different member states.
The new patent system will be run by 13 countries if it wins final approval from the European Parliament and the EU Council.
It will allow individuals to register their patent in any one of the member states included in the group and the patent will be recognised in all these countries. This will entail much less bureaucracy and expense than under the current rules.
At present, an individual from one country who would like to protect an invention through a patent has to register it in every other member state. This requires the technical documents to be translated in all those other languages. The new system, however, will only use English, French and German.
Spain and Italy had blocked the agreement and will not form part of the group because they want applications to be filed in Spanish or Italian as well.
Malta was not among the first group of countries that had shown interest in taking part in this initiative but The Times is informed the island has decided to join because it considers it to be in its interest.
Godwin Warr, director general responsible for patents within the Ministry of Finance, said that although Malta did not have a vast patent register, the system would be very beneficial as it would simplify the procedure and lower costs.
“The effort to translate technical documents into every single language is very cumbersome, takes a lot of time and is very costly. Under the new system, registering a patent...will become much more straightforward,” he said.
The European Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs yesterday gave its seal of approval to the new system and kick-started the last set of procedures that will pave the way for the operation of the enhanced cooperation mechanism on patents.
In their resolution, the committee’s MEPs said such enhanced cooperation must not undermine the internal market or economic, social and territorial cohesion and it must not cause distortions of competition between member states.
The 12 other countries that have joined the initiative are Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden and the UK.
What’s a patent?
A patent protects new inventions and covers how things work, what they do, how they do it, what they are made of and how they are made. It gives the owner the right to prevent others from making, using, importing or selling the invention without permission.
To qualify for a patent, an invention must be new, have an inventive step that is not obvious to someone with knowledge and experience in the subject and be capable of being made or used in some kind of industry.
To remain valid, a patent must be renewed every five years for up to 20 years.