In a sign of the importance of intellectual property to the European Commission, IP was the focus of the new internal market commissioner's first speech to the European Parliament's legal affairs committee last week.

The committee is the main decision-making body on changes to all IP-related legal texts before they are presented for adoption by the full Parliament.

Commissioner for the internal market Charlie McCreevy addressed the committee on February 2 to help him form his opinion "on where to go next". But his direct address also showed the Commission's hopes of achieving progress on a number of IP draft laws to help meet the Lisbon target of making the EU the most competitive knowledge-based economy by 2010.

In particular, McCreevy raised the sticky issue of software patents: "I appreciate that the directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions is a very delicate issue and I would not like to underestimate the hard work which will be needed to ensure an agreement between Council and Parliament."

Since the Commission first proposed it in 2001, the draft legal text has been the subject of a drawn-out battle between members of the European Council and the Parliament, as well as pro- and anti- software patent lobbies.

McCreevy said that the text, which has been held up in the Council for almost a year, is due to be approved as an A-item at an upcoming Council meeting. The text would then pass through Parliament for a second reading and could be the subject of further changes, or complete rejection.

"Needless to say, a constructive dialogue between the Council and Parliament will be vital for an agreement," said McCreevy. "Any agreement will need to strike a fair balance between different interests. Having no directive means continuing to rely on case law, which leads to considerable legal uncertainty which is why we must strive to find a balanced solution."

McCreevy also addressed the Community patent, a sore point since member states failed to reach unanimity on its scope in May 2004. Without a single EU patent, said McCreevy, high costs and legal uncertainty for IP owners, and less research and innovation would remain key burdens in the internal market. "We continue to hope that the Council will come to an agreement on the Community patent," he stressed.

Touching on the Commission's proposed regulation on liberalizing designs protection for spare parts, McCreevy warned that though IP protection was important to boost innovation, "over-protection does nothing to boost our competitiveness".

McCreevy's appointment had raised hopes in the IP community that more progress could be made on harmonizing IP laws and practices across the EU and that discussions on the Community patent could be rekindled.

But as McCreevy said to the legal affairs committee: "It is still early days in my mandate and I may not yet have answers to all of your questions or comments."

To view the speech, click here.

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