The existing regime of the classic European patent is not encouraging innovation in the European Union (EU), which shows in competitiveness decline of individual companies, EU member states and consequently the EU as a whole compared to other non-European countries.
The problem does not lie in lack of creativity, but sadly many ideas remain unexploited due to high patent procedure costs, inadequate protection of innovation during the procedure and subsequently theft of such innovation.
Innovation represents the creation of new values for the world, it drives development and economic growth, so it should, by priority, be on the top of the agenda of the legislative branch, but despite the fact, the problem lies at the very beginning, in the process of enforcing patent protection, which is rigid, long lasting and, from the costs perspective, too expensive.
In today’s economy, creating and knowledge management have a dominant role in generating of profits, especially compared to traditional production factors, such as labour and capital. The fact is, that the two mentioned factors inside EU are better legally regulated, constantly upgraded (updated legislation, better legal protection), whereas patent protection remains the same.
Since 2012, there has been talk of introducing a Unitary patent and Unified Patent Court, but it is still unknown today, when will the new system begin to operate in practice, which poses a problem for potential innovators.
The US patent system is, compared to the European patent system, more unified and more effective regarding duration, complexity and costs rate and therefore stimulates innovation, development and competition more that European patent system.
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