Working Paper
This paper provides new evidence about the budgetary consequences – for patent offices – of the coexistence of the forthcoming Unitary Patent (UP) with the current European Patent (EP).
Blog Post
On December 11th the European Parliament approved the proposal made by the Competitiveness Council at Ministerial level to create a “unitary” patent that would cover 25 member states (Spain and Italy opposed the system due to languages reasons). SMEs will in addition benefit from lower fees.
Video
After more than 30 years of negotiations, the European Union is closer to having a unified patent system. After the agreement on translation requirements for the EU Patent back in December 2011, negotiations are now focusing on patent courts and litigation rules. In this video, Research Fellow Bruno van Pottelsberghe explains why it has taken […]
Working Paper
This working paper empirically investigates if corporate governance practices affect the resources firms devote to R&D. The authors Florence Honoré, Federico Munari and Bruno van Pottelsberghe found that an executive remuneration system that is linked to the firm’s financial performance has a particularly strong negative impact on R&D. This confirms the hypothesis that incentive mechanisms […]
Blog Post
Resident Scholar Bruno van Pottelsberghe discusses the problems that the patent systems face in both the U.S. and Europe. In the States, the lax standards for patent applications has created an enormous backlog and quality has become an issue. In Europe, on the other hand, the patent system is too fragmented to work properly. While […]
Working Paper
In this paper, Bruegel senior Fellow Bruno van Pottelsberghe develops a methodology to compare the quality of examination services in different patent offices. Quality is defined as the extent to which patent offices comply with their patentability conditions in a transparent way. The methodology consists of a two-layer analytical framework encompassing ‘legal standards’ and their […]
Policy Contribution
Innovation is key to the future of Europe. This Policy Contribution, written together by Mathias Dewatripont, Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management; Bruno van Pottelsberghe and André Sapir, Senior Fellows at Bruegel and professors at ULB; and Reinhilde Veugelers, senior fellow at Bruegel and professor at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, makes suggestions based on three […]
Policy Brief
In this Policy Brief, Bruegel Senior Fellow Bruno van Pottelsberghe makes the argument in favour of a single EU patent system. The author explains that the absence of a one-stop-shop for EU-wide patents hampers innovation and will pose serious challenges to small and medium-sized companies in the face of global competition. This paper analyses how […]
External Publication
On 4 March Notre Europe launched the second edition of Think Global Act European. This issue, dedicated to the Spanish, Belgian and Hungarian Trio Presidency, compiles analysis and recommendations from 14 different think tanks on the different issues concerning the changing role of the rotating presidency and the trio themselves. Bruegel has contributed with three […]
Policy Contribution
Senior Resident Fellows Reinhilde Veugelers and Bruno van Pottelsberghe provide recommendations for the term of new Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes in this supplement to Bruegel’s Memos to the New Commission: Europe’s Economic Priorities 2010-2015. They argue that Kroes should move past a focus on infrastructure and concentrate more on ICT’s potential to contribute to […]
Working Paper
The creation of a European Community Patent (COMPAT) came a step closer this month when Sweden brokered a preliminary agreement on the issue. In this working paper, Senior Resident Fellow Bruno van Pottelsberghe and Jérôme Danguy use simulations to take a look at the advantages, disadvantages, winners and losers from the creation of the COMPAT. […]