L’UE face au fléau des «chasseurs de brevets»

lesechos.fr

A hundred companies including Apple, Adidas, Microsoft, Sanofi and Volkswagen wrote on Wednesday to European Commissioner Thierry Breton, asking him to pull the rug out from under “patent trolls” feet, groups whose sole activity is the massive purchase of patents for prosecution purposes.

Patrick Oliver

A  published today gives unique insight into how some non-practising entities (NPEs), also known as patent asserting entities (PAEs) or patent trolls, game Europe’s patent system. The report also provides further evidence that the problem of patent trolls is migrating to Europe from the US, and it proposes several policy responses to address the problem.

IP2Innovate

BRUSSELS, 22 April 2025 - IP2Innovate: SEP regulation essential for European businesses' innovation and cost reduction Ahead of European Parliament’s JURI Committee hearing with Commission's Executive Vice-President Stéphane Séjourné, IP2Innovate reiterates its strong opposition to the European Commission's intention to withdraw the SEP Regulation. "Withdrawing the SEP Regulation now would be a grave mistake that undermines innovation, European competitiveness, and the EU legislative process itself," said Patrick Oliver, Executive Director of IP2Innovate. "The current SEP licensing environment is broken - unpredictable, fragmented, and inefficient - chilling innovation across sectors and eroding the competitiveness of entire European industries, who often face abuse by mostly non-EU entities. This situation places Europe’s supply chain security at risk and further limits the availability of innovative products and features and increases costs for European consumers." "The Commission's claim of 'no foreseeable agreement' contradicts the facts. The European Parliament already adopted a position with overwhelming support, and the Polish Presidency has explicitly stated its readiness to resume work on the Regulation." "Europe has become a venue where often foreign SEP holders litigate to exclude European companies from the market. The proposed Regulation brings essential transparency and fairness to a broken system." "As we look to the future of standards, advancing - not abandoning - this Regulation is essential for Europe's technological competitiveness."