§ Mr. ConnartyTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to her answer of 17 March 2004,Official Report, columns 326–27W, to the hon. Member for Clydesdale (Mr. Hood), on the Competitiveness Council, for what reasons no agreement was reached on the regulation for the Community Patent. [164294]
§ Ms HewittAgreement was not reached because of an unresolved issue over whether translations of the claims of the patent, which are required to be filed in all official languages of the European Union, should be for information only, or whether they should have full legal effect. One view is that a company should not be disadvantaged if it infringes a patent due to a bad translation. At the other end of the spectrum, various delegations believe that giving legal effect to translations would raise costs for everyone and increase uncertainty. The UK is anxious to see a compromise which recognises industry's clear view that excessive translation costs would make a Community Patent of little value compared to existing arrangements.