Europe has a long history of protecting intellectual property (IP). Even the ancient Greeks and Romans protected the copyright of their highly celebrated authors. The first mention of the concept of patent law dates to the third century A.D. in Ancient Greece. The first modern patent was issued in Venice in 1416 for an invention that turned wool into felt.  

Flash forward to November 2020, when the European Commission published an ambitious IP Action Plan. Its goal was to help Europe “assume leadership in key industrial areas”, improve resilience in the event of external shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic and make the twin transitions to a more sustainable and more digital economy.  

Among its recommendations, the Commission proposed to “boost the uptake and use of IP, especially by small and medium-sized enterprises” (SMEs). It proposed to create an EU SME Fund for Intellectual Property, “further roll out the availability of IP strategic advice”, “pilot strategic advice combined with financial support to develop strategic IP portfolios” and “make it easier for SMEs to leverage their IP when trying to get access to finance.”  

What happened to the Commission’s support for IP?   

Unfortunately, while the EU made good on commitments to strengthen protection for indications of geographical origin such as Murano glass and Porcelaine de Limoges, the Commission and Parliament have also done much to undermine support for patents. They have proposed and passed measures that would adversely affect companies involved in developing digital technology standards as well as pharmaceutical products by seeking to impose unnecessary and disproportionate regulatory burdens on patent owners.  

In fact, a recent report by former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi for the European Commission criticised the EU for hobbling digital innovation in Europe with burdensome rules and regulations at a time it desperately needs to encourage private investment in R&D—as well as patents.  

“Europe must become a place where innovation flourishes, especially for digital tech. A weak tech sector […] will not only rob us of the growth opportunities of the coming AI revolution, it will also hinder innovation in our traditional sectors,” Mr. Draghi told journalists in a briefing about the report.  

The Draghi report also referred to data that demonstrates conclusively that :  

• “Innovative companies that want to scale up in Europe are hindered at every stage by inconsistent and restrictive regulations.” 

• “EU companies, especially SMEs, underutilise the possibility of formally protecting their Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), which is often necessary to compete globally. Only 9% of SMEs in the EU own formal IPR such as patents, trademarks and designs, compared to more than 55% of large companies. This is partially due to the complex and costly procedures involved in filing IPR applications across fragmented national systems, as well as by a lack of expertise and awareness regarding the importance of protecting IPR.” 

In short, according to the Draghi report, Europe needs to do a much better job of promoting the value of intellectual property for European inventors large and small—and stop undermining it with “inconsistent and restrictive regulations.” IP Europe agrees.  

IP is essential for European competitiveness and security 

The Draghi report says IP is essential not only to help Europe grow within Europe, but also to help European companies to better compete in the fast-growing global market for advanced digital products and services. “Vis-á-vis U.S. and Asian counterparts, EU tech players currently lack the scale to support R&D and deploy investments in telecoms, cloud services, AI and semiconductors….,” it says.  

Moreover, Mr. Draghi also emphasises the importance of Europe being able to develop home-grown technologies that it can trust as opposed to having to import them from other regions with potentially lower standards of transparency and security.  

IP Europe welcomes Mr. Draghi’s focus on the role of IP in helping European companies large and small finance world-class research and investment, grow, and successfully compete globally. We sincerely hope that the incoming European Commission will take his conclusions to heart and stop supporting contradictory initiatives that would undermine IP protection in Europe.  

You can read the full 328-page Draghi report here.