Protecting Europe’s know-how and innovation leadership

Intellectual property The Commission yesterday presented measures to ensure that intellectual property rights are well protected, thereby encouraging European companies, in particular SMEs and startups, to invest in innovation and creativity.

These initiatives will make it easier to act efficiently against breaches of intellectual property rights, facilitate cross-border litigation, and tackle the fact that 5% of goods imported into the EU (worth €85 billion) are counterfeited or pirated. The Commission also encourages licensing negotiations which are fair and balanced in rewarding companies for their innovation while allowing also others to build on this technology to generate new innovative products and services.

Vice-President Jyrki Katainen, responsible for Jobs, Growth Investment and Competitiveness, said: “Europe’s economic growth and competitiveness largely depends on our many entrepreneurs – from start-ups to large companies – investing in new ideas and knowledge. The comprehensive package we are presenting today improves the application and enforcement of intellectual property rights and encourages investment in technology and product development in Europe.”

Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska, added: “Today we boost our collective ability to catch the ‘big fish’ behind fake goods and pirated content which harm our companies and our jobs – as well as our health and safety in areas such as medicines or toys. We are also placing Europe as a global leader with a patent licensing system that is conducive to the roll-out of the Internet of Things from smartphones to connected cars.”

The measures adopted today include:

New guidance provides clarification on how to apply the 2004 Directive on the enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPRED). The Directive has proved a relevant tool in fighting intellectual property rights (IPR) abuse, but there have been differing interpretations among Member States of some of its provisions over the years. The guidance clarifies these interpretation issues, which will increase legal certainty for all stakeholders and facilitate civil enforcement across the EU straight away, without the need for new legislation. In addition, the Commission calls on Member States to step up their efforts by boosting judicial training, systematically publishing judgements on IP cases and encouraging alternative dispute resolution tools

Building on the positive experiences under the Memorandum of Understanding on the sale of counterfeitgoods via the internet, the Commission continues to support industry-led initiatives to combat IP infringements, including voluntary agreements on advertising on websites, on payment services and on transport and shipping. Such agreements can lead to faster action against counterfeiting and piracy than court actions. They complement recent Commission guidelines for online platforms to tackle illegal content. step up co-operation between EU customs authorities, notably by assessing the implementation of the EU Customs Action Plan on IP infringements for 2013-2017 and proposing more targeted assistance to national customs authorities.

Many key technologies that are part of global industry standards (such as WiFi or 4G) are protected by Standard Essential Patents (SEPs). Today the Commission offers guidance and recommendations for a balanced and efficient SEPs system where two objectives are reconciled: product manufacturers can access technologies under transparent and predictable licensing rules; and at the same time patent-holders are rewarded for their investments in R&D and standardisation activities so that they are incentivised to offer their best technologies for inclusion in standards. More transparency and predictability should give the EU – including its many start-ups – a head-start in the global technological innovation race and fully grasp the potential of 5G and the Internet of Things.

The Commission will closely monitor the progress on the proposed measures and assess the need for further steps.

These initiatives were announced in the 2015 Single Market Strategy – a roadmap to deliver on President Juncker’s political commitment to unleash the full potential of the Single Market and make it the launchpad for European companies to thrive in the global economy.

Delivering on the Single Market Strategy, the Commission has already put forward proposals on e-commerce, guidance on the collaborative economy, steps to modernise the EU’s standardisation policy, a Start-up and Scale-up Initiative, measures to give a fresh boost to the services sector and steps to enhance compliance and practical functioning of the EU Single Market.