Eu Maps New Plan To Overhaul Patent System

The European Commission will launch proposals aimed at reviving its campaign to create a common patent system for Europe that would cut costs for companies and simplify legal procedures. European patents are managed at a national level, creating an unwieldy system of varying rules, court systems and languages across the 27-nation bloc. Securing a patent for just half the countries in the European Union costs more than 10 times as much as a patent in the U.S. or Japan, according to the commission.

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