New Statement on the Protection of Intellectual Property in Biotechnology

In a statement completed in the summer of 2007by the Working Group on Intellectual Property and Technical Contracts , BIO Deutschland strongly supports the improvement of conditions for the protection of intellectual property, in particular for innovative small and medium-sized enterprises in Germany and Europe. BIO Deutschland’s demands include a 50 percent reduction in the European application filling, examination and issue fees, and the national fees, especially the annual fees, for industrial property rights for small and medium-sized enterprises, universities and independent innovators, as well as effective and harmonised legal protection in all member states of the European Union by unlimited implementation of the EU regulations and the ruling of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Office. In addition, the introduction of a regulation on a period of grace for all types of application filling of intellectual property should be implemented; with the prevalent pressure in the sector to publish scientific results rapidly, this would reduce the risks for companies, their staff and investors of advance publications appearing on an invention before its application filling. Further demands, including some on the Law on Staff Inventions and on the sale of industrial property rights following bankruptcy, are explained in the position paper.