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IP in Europe: Glass half full?

April 27, 2005

Public perception of intellectual property (IP) needs to change if the European IP landscape is to continue build on its past successes.

The debate within Europe about the future of IP is healthy, according to European Patent Office (EPO) president-elect Alison Brimelow. Speaking at the AURIL conference in Edinburgh on 28 April, Brimelow said that despite issues of public perception of IP, Europe was well placed to engage with the strategic debate about its future.

"Public perception of IP issues needs to improve for IP protection to work well and to develop in ways which support European economic growth and competitiveness" said Brimelow. "Think about what we've heard about IP over the past few years: parallel imports have been high on the media agenda since the Tesco/Levis debate; there's the belief that patents make vital drugs unaffordable to developing countries where the need is great, and there's the issue of copyright turning 13 year old music downloaders into criminals. Such criticism undermines respect for IP on which effective enforcement depends."

Brimelow's talk also looked at the wider global issues affecting IP, in particular the increasing volume of applications for patents which she believes current systems are unable to cope with effectively. Speaking on the subject of IP systems, she highlighted that there are issues that need addressing on a global basis, and that Europe's future IP strategies should have a global perspective.

On the issue of European IP there are differences of view. Brimelow described industry's concern that the dossiers covering the Community Patent, computer implemented inventions (CII Directive), and biotechnology were "in pieces on the garage floor", despite IP being a central theme of the Lisbon agenda.

However, despite this, Brimelow's overall message was positive:
"I would say our glass is half full," she says. "Trademark law in Europe is healthy with with a strong legal framework and the Community Trade Mark and Designs Office (OHIM) is working effectively. The EPO is a world class institution with a strong track record. There is a coherent copyright regime.

"We are at least debating how the system works and where it should go. Whether we can negotiate and agree on future strategy remains to be seen. But at least we have a solid foundation on which to work and know that change is needed. And that, to me, seems to hint at the beginnings of wisdom."

AURIL (Association for University Research and Industry Links)

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