Cambridge UK companies looking to expand into the US are being handed an inside track insight into a patent law revolution on the other side of the Pond.

Eversheds’ Cambridge-based patent law expert, Adrian Toutoungi, has been invited to speak at a seminar this week (September 29) in Munich – home of the European Patent Office – about the overhaul of the US patent system authorised by Barack Obama.

President Obama signed the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act into law this month, which reforms the patent system in the US and brings it more into line with the patent system in other major industrialised nations.

Toutoungi said: “I will be sharing a platform with US patent law specialists, who will explain the implications for European businesses of these major US reforms. Despite recent difficulties, the US is still the largest technology market in the world and a key territory for Cambridge businesses looking to expand.”
 
The EU in turn is pressing forward with plans to create a unitary patent covering all EU member states (other than Italy and Spain, which have opted out).

Toutoungi said: “Although these negotiations have been going on for years in one form or another, there is now much greater urgency and momentum behind them than before. The European Commission wants the new unitary patent system up and running by 2013.”
 
The current proposals reduce the costs of obtaining patent protection in all 27 EU member states by 80 per cent, which brings pan-EU patent protection within the reach of SMEs for the first time and should result in major costs savings for all companies with a patent portfolio, however small.
 
In addition to creating a unitary patent, a new low-cost international patents court with jurisdiction to grant injunctions covering the whole EU will be set up.

With his wealth of experience in conducting cross-border patent litigation, Toutoungi is particularly interested in this aspect of the reforms.

“The UK has already tried to put its own house in order with the reforms last year of the Patents County Court, which have dramatically reduced the costs and risks for SMEs in enforcing patents in the UK.

“Since technology easily crosses borders, the EU is now making strides towards bringing pan-EU enforcement of patents within the reach of SMEs, rather than leaving it solely to the multinationals.

“The global financial crisis has put pressure on policy makers to re-balance economies away from financial services, and boosting innovation and high tech businesses has become a key priority.

“To achieve this, one specific goal is to reduce the cost of both obtaining patent protection and enforcing it against infringers. As a result, major changes to the patent system globally are under way.”

• PHOTOGRAPH SHOWS: Eversheds’ Cambridge-based patent law expert, Adrian Toutoungi