ag-ip-news.com (Intellectual Property News Agency)AGIPNEWS3189:


BRUSSELS - The European Commission announced on Tuesday that it will hold a public hearing on future EU patent policy on July 12, 2006.

This is the second step of the public consultation launched in January 2006 with the aim of collecting stakeholders' views on the patent system in Europe and seeking views on what measures could be taken in the near future to improve this system.

On January 16, 2006, the Commission launched a public consultation on the future patent policy in Europe. The consultation focuses on the structure of the patent system in Europe rather than issues of substantive patent law.

The consultation questionnaire covered four major topics: basic principles of the patent system, the proposed Community patent; non-community initiatives such as the London Protocol and the European Patent Litigation Agreement (EPLA) and possible areas for harmonization at Community level.