"The purpose of unitary patent protection is to make innovation cheaper and easier for businesses and inventors everywhere in Europe," Michel Barnier the Commission's Internal Market and Services Commissioner, said.
Europe-wide protection is only possible at the moment by validating a patent registered with the European Patent Office (EPO) in each individual country. To be valid in a country a patent must be translated into its language. The Commission has sought a cheaper system because of what it has said is the prohibitive cost of that process.
Currently it can cost more than €32,000 in translation and other costs to obtain a Europe-wide patent, the Commission said, compared with an average cost of $1,850 in the US. The Commission estimated the overall yearly cost of validating patents in the EU to be €193m.
Under the new plans a European patent holder will make only one application to the EPO for patent protection across the 25 EU countries that have signed up to the scheme.
The cost for a successful application would be €680 and the level of protection would be the same across all nations, the Commission said.
"The EPO shall administer requests for unitary effect, include and administer in the European patent register entries relating to European patents with unitary effect, receive and register statements on licensing, ensure the publication of the translations required during the transitional period, collect and administer the renewal fees (as well as additional fees), the distribution of a part of the collected renewal fees to the participating member states and administer a compensation scheme of translation costs for applicants filing European patent applications in one of the official languages of the Union that is not an official language of the EPO," the Commission proposals said (26 pages / 89KB PDF)
The official languages of the EPO are English, French and German. Patent holders that submit documents in another EU language will receive compensation for having to translate their application, the Commission said.
The EPO will publish patents in English, French or German, but specific details of what the patent protection covers will be published in all three languages, the Commission said.
Within 12 years every full patent agreement will be published in all three languages, the Commission said.
The Commission will seek approval for the draft regulations by the European Parliament and by the Council of Ministers.
"It will mean a big reduction in terms of costs and red tape, and provide a stimulus for European innovation," said Barnier. "It will be accessible for all companies in the EU, no matter where they are based. I continue to hope that, in time, all member states will choose to participate in this enhanced cooperation."
"It is my deeply held conviction there is no sustainable economic growth without innovation. And no innovation without efficient intellectual property protection," Barnier said.
The European Commission has been trying to introduce pan-Europe patent protection for over a decade.
The Commission's last attempt came last year when it announced proposals to use automated translation software to translate parts of patents. EU ministers rejected the idea.
In December, 12 member states got together to push for new unifying patent protection regulations. The Lisbon Treaty permits a faction of 9 or more EU countries to use the EU's processes and structures to make agreements that bind only those countries. Since December a further 13 countries have backed the proposals which the Commission has now set out.
The draft regulations take into account discussions by Council ministers on the subject of patent protection which the Commission hopes will help address the concerns that ministers have raised with prior proposals.
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