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back to article Squabbling EU heads force Council to split patent court in 3

The UK, France and Germany have removed the last obstacle to the formation of a unified European patent system by divvying up the court between them. The three European powerhouses have been holding up the end of a process that's been going on for decades to try to bring all of Europe's patent laws and disputes under one …

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  1. Tom 7

    "prohibitively expensive" for small businesses

    WTF do you think patents are for? Oh you thought cos it was law it was something to do with justice and not embiggening big business.

    Who do you think pays for all the lobbying for this shit - SME's?? Or even the voting public...

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    1. Anonymous Coward
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      Anonymous Coward

      Re: "prohibitively expensive" for small businesses

      Agreed.

      Patents are no longer to protect innovation but are used as clubs by near (or actual) monopolies as a barrier to entry. As for copyright, don't get me started.

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  2. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Germany

    If this moves patent disputes out of germany, it's worth it. Germany has the most idiotic rules on patent disputes imaginable - patent-holder friendly to the extreme.

    I'm all for patents when they're properly used and handled (and ideally granted too!) but the bias should be *against* the patent holder to prevent abuse. Germany's system basically says abuse is fine, even for SEPs.

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  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    ... small businesses who will have to journey to wherever the appropriate court is

    So, what's the alternative? Local courts, down to the Parish Council level?

    Let them eat video-conferencing!

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: ... small businesses who will have to journey to wherever the appropriate court is

      In my experience, a flight from, say, Manchester to Paris or Munich would be cheaper and faster than a train or car to London and the overnight costs would be cheaper too. Actually, even within Greater London and the home counties, the fast train to Paris could be quicker than the local trains and tube into some awful part of Central London (and probably cost less and certainly be a lot less stressful!). You may even get a judge not over-awed by big money in the City or big noise from jumped-up politicians or big business lobbies.

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  4. dotdavid
    Devil

    A win for the law...

    ...3 courts == 3 times the patent lawyers

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  5. bonkers
    Megaphone

    NOOOO - DON'T DO IT

    You will make one big fat target for the fragmented EU system and the American system to be combined. This will cost us (in the EU) untold money and misery, as obvious things will require huge lawyers bills, manufacturers and product developers will not be able to afford the litigation insurance, innovation will stop. America needs its tax on all things - look at the effort they spend on DRM, getting the electronics industry to swallow the costs, the RIAA taking the benefits. Don't make the EU patent system their puppy too.

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  6. Martin 47
    FAIL

    UK and Europe?

    I didn't realise you had Nigel Farage ghost writing for you

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  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Global IP dominance

    The Enemy still lacks one thing to give him strength and knowledge to beat down all resistance, break the last defences, and cover all the lands in a second darkness. He lacks the One Ring... So he is seeking it, seeking it, and all his thought is bent on it

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  8. dogged
    Trollface

    So...

    The Brits get chemicals (mainly alcohol), the Germans get soullessly efficient machines and the French get an existential talking shop about whether patents are subject to ennui or not.

    Perfect.

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  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Ah, little England - "for the UK and Europe"

    "... for the UK and Europe ...": Quite where does the author think the UK is, either geographically or politically or economically?

    Catch up with the last few thousand years of history, politics and your own origins. Makes one despair. The author is probably young enough to have been born in the EU, i.e. after UK was finally accepted into the EU and certainly long after the ancestors of most of us crossed that small channel of water that a strong man or woman can even swim across.

    Really, no wonder this country is falling increasingly precipitately behind other European countries that, even in these difficult times, seem to be better for the average inhabitant while we puff out our chests to the nonsense printed in our newspapers and spouted by a would-be populist government whose main loyalty is to a corrupt, Americanised finance industry.

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    1. DavCrav
      Reply Icon

      Re: Ah, little England - "for the UK and Europe"

      You know, he might be saying that it's good for the UK and it's also good for Europe as a whole. In the same way as someone might say "it's good for me and it's good for my family"...

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    2. dogged
      Reply Icon

      Re: Ah, little England - "for the UK and Europe"

      I suppose Anon thinks we should be at "the heart of Europe" including full Euro membership...

      The EU. A fundamentally bad idea which provides cushy retirement for politicians and lots of bribe money for bankers, all paid for by the citizen.

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      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Ah, little England - "for the UK and Europe"

        "... provides cushy retirement for politicians and lots of bribe money for bankers, all paid for by the citizen."

        Also true of the UK, England, London - and the rest of the world

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