Patents

Proposals for a unitary patent and unified patent litigation system in the Europe

In Europe, the lack of a unitary title and the absence of an integrated, specialized and unified jurisdiction for patent related disputes have for many years been a subject matter for discussion between the European Commission, EU Member States and stakeholders. ICC is contributing to on-going discussions on proposals for unitary patent and unified patent litigation system in Europe.

Cooperation between patent offices

As business, trade and the impact of technology have become increasingly global, awareness of the value of intellectual assets has grown and the very high costs of obtaining and enforcing patents have continued to increase. The increasing backlogs of pending patent applications in the major patent offices and the problems these bring for all parties concerned underline the need for facilitated work sharing between patent offices. In this context, work sharing means that patent offices share information about search strategies, search results and examination results for applications directed to the same invention and use that information in connection with search and examination work done on such applications. Patent offices engaged in such work sharing will retain the ultimate responsibility of deciding for themselves whether a patent should be granted or not.

Trademarks

ICC participates in the WIPO Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) and in European Trademark and Designs Office (OHIM) User Group and other working bodies.

Selected ICC submissions

ICC provides input into discussions on how to make the intellectual property system more effective and efficient: