IP2Innovate

Dear Executive Vice-President -designate, On behalf of IP2Innovate, I write to congratulate you on your nomination as the European Commission Executive Vice-President-designate for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy. You are taking on this role at a pivotal moment as Europe seeks to embrace a new era of competitiveness, productivity, and innovation.

IP2Innovate

This year’s World IP Day focuses on the role innovation and intellectual property play in enabling us to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and build a more sustainable future for all. Innovation offers the world a chance to address the climate crisis. It is crucial that the patent system functions properly so that green inventors get their ideas to market.

IP2Innovate

A new academic study by economists at the universities of Bordeaux, Grenoble, and Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona) highlights how patent assertion entities (PAEs) are continuing to take advantage of weaknesses in Europe’s patent system. The study, entitled Patent Privateering, looks at one specific method of patent abuse. Patent privateering is a term to describe a situation where a patent owner hands patents to a patent assertion entity (PAE) to exploit for mutual benefit, allowing the patent owner to maintain a secret stake in the patents. The study concluded that patent privateering is widespread in Europe. The practise has been around for many years but as other jurisdictions including the US have made it harder, Europe’s patent system is a ripe target for abuse. This is largely because patent courts in Europe do not apply the principle of proportionality, and instead hand out injunctions to patent owners almost automatically.