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Agreements on European patent court

The Brussels summit appears to have removed some of the remaining obstacles to the unitary patent court project. These decisions were celebrated with the usual propaganda that confuses patents with innovation.

The European Parliament is scheduled to decide on this matter in a few days. Roughly the anniversary of the EP refusal of the software patent directive 2005-07-06, the EP is poised to take a decision that would greatly increase the patent and patent litigation density in Europe in a time where patent trolling is on the rise.

The EP is mostly in favor because the patent court project is, similar to the euro, a symbolic part of EU nationbuilding. MEPs are in general enthusastic EU nationbuilders. Otherwise they can’t be members of the club. The patent court would be the single most incisive centralized court of Europe. It would tilt the balance in favor of a unitary euro state.

In general, toplevel jurisdiction is in the hands of the member states. Intellectual Property courts are an exception to this rule which is provided for in the Treaty for the Functioning of the European Union. But unlike the existing trademark chamber of the ECJ or possible future copyright chambers, a patent court deals with very broad and incisive limitations of citizens’ freedoms. By installing a supreme patent court, the EU would be moving a big step forward to unitary European toplevel jurisdiction and thereby to the MEP’s obligatory wet dream of a unitary european state.

OTOH even the most enthusiastic EU nationbuilders see that the unitary patent as proposed stands outside the legal system of the EU. The European Patent Organisation, with which it is linked, has severe governance problems and is not subject to legislative oversight by the EU. The European Court of justice has therefore given a strongly negative opinion on the proposals of the Commission and Council. This has also impressed some members of the Parliament, such as the Greens/EFA, but obviously not the majority that follows patent lobby MEPs such as Klaus-Heiner Lehne. This, rather than the turf problems that were resolved at the summit, is the main remaining obstacle to the establishment of the patent court. The existing reports about the summit give no clear answer on whether and how the summit addressed this obstacle.

Euro Area Summit Statement available

The conclusions of the Euro Area summit in Brussels have become available.

The Eurozone Portal contains pointers to sources.

The German media write that Monti & Rajoy threatened to withdraw from the “growth package” whereas Italian media write that Monti threatened not to sign the Fiscal Compact. The latter version seems more credible.

Dirk Müller fasst die Beschlüsse des gestrigen Krisen-Gipfels prägnant und gruselig zusammen. Wie genau er sie erfasst hat, kann ich noch nicht beurteilen.

SPD-Aufrufe für abschließende Bevölkerungsabstimmung

Eine auf Parlaments- und Wählermehrheiten beruhende EU würde das deutsche Volksvermögen zugunsten von 500 Millionen Europäern demokratisieren. Ist es das, was wir nun nach der Parlamentsabstimmung für den unpopulären ESM brauchen? Welche aktuellen Probleme wollen Sigmar Gabriel, Gesine Schwan und andere SPD-Größen damit lösen?

Gabriel will “mehr Schäuble und weniger Merkel”. Ähnlich wie Schäuble fordert er, nach der faktischen Überwindung des Grundgesetzes diese von der “Bevölkerung” der künftigen Europrovinz Deutschland absegnen zu lassen:

Bild: Schon bei der Hymne hatten wir verloren

Die Bild-Zeitung veröffentlicht heute in drastischen Worten, was ich vorgestern ins Tagebuch schrieb.

Noch eine Massenvergewaltigung auf dem Tahrir-Platz

Noch eine Reporterin wurde auf dem Platz der Freiheit sexuell belästigt. Schon bei Lara Logan scheuten sich die Medien, das Wort “Vergewaltigung” zu verwenden, obwohl das noch eine Untertreibung war, und es wurden Gerüchte verbreitet, das gehe auf das Konto von “Mubaraks Schergen”. Mit einer etwas realistischeren Sicht auf die edlen Wilden wäre dergleichen vielleicht zu verhindern gewesen.

morgen