European companies and watchdog warn against excessive EU patent fees
By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS, March 20 (Reuters) - The European Commission and some of Europe's largest companies, including Philips and Scania, have warned that excessive fees for a single European patent could hurt innovation.
The European Union agreed on a single European patent in June 2012 after decades of disputes, ending a fragmented system where an investor would have to pay as much as 35,000 euros ($38,003) to protect an idea in individual EU countries.
However, the European Patent Office's proposed fees -- due to be discussed by a committee of 25 EU countries on March 23 in the first of three meetings -- could kill off the benefits of the EU's scheme, the companies said in a joint letter.
The letter, addressed to the Irish jobs minister and seen by Reuters, said that use of the single European patent "will be rather limited" if renewal fees are higher than the sum of three to four national renewal fees.
Signatories to the letter sent to all the members of the committee include Swedish engineering group Alfa Laval , French industrial gases company Air Liquide , Finnish mobile equipment maker Nokia, Danish energy business Danfoss and chipmaker NXP Semiconductors NV.
The European Commission also criticised the proposed fees, half of which go to national patent offices and the other half to the European Patent Office (EPO), saying that young start-up companies could end up as the victims.
"The EU's competitiveness should be the main concern here, over and above revenue considerations. The Commission has communicated this position to the members of the select committee and the European Patent Office in no uncertain terms," Commission spokeswoman Lucia Caudet said.
The Commission estimates that the proposal by the EPO could result in a fee between 6,700 euros and 7,500 euros for a 10-year patent, compared with 2,900 euros in the United States, 1,400 euros in Japan and 450 euros in China.
EPO spokesman Rainer Osterwalder declined to comment ahead of the Monday meeting.
Business Europe, which represents 39 industry and employer groups in 33 countries, and Eurochambres, which counts 43 national chambers of commerce across Europe as its members, also voiced concerns.
The proposal is unbalanced, Eurochambres said in a letter to the chairman of the committee, adding that its implementation would deny patent access to small and medium-sized enterprises. ($1 = 0.9210 euros) (Editing by David Goodman)
