About
Those suggestions will be discussed in the committee on wednesday 21 march and the vote will happen on the tuesday 27 march.
Suggestions
The Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs calls on the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following suggestions in its motion for a resolution:
Emphasises that it regards the 3% of GDP target for expenditure on R&D outlined in the Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs as a minimum.
Recognises that small, medium and large enterprises all play a part in a dynamic, integrated innovation strategy; thus considers that access to resources for smaller enterprises and individuals is crucial to raising R&D levels and developing new technologies; believes that both early stage funding and ongoing finance over a timeframe that is sufficiently long for getting products to market must be fostered, but that failure should not be fatal to future attempts.
Understanding that the uncertainties inherent in R&D diminish the willingness of financial markets to invest in R&D projects; welcomes the Commission's proposal for a Risk Sharing Finance Facility for the purpose of investing in high-risk R&D projects by means of loans and guarantees; also welcomes the integration into existing state aid rules of provisions enabling Member States to target aid on innovation and to speed up approval processes.
- Notes that innovation in services plays a major part in the economy and that the protection of intellectual property is often restricted in Europe to trade secrets, which can be inadequate, is not as extensive as in some competing jurisdictions and may conflict with transparency; is of the opinion that smaller businesses find it difficult and expensive to negotiate and enforce confidentiality agreements.
- Emphasises that the elimination of fragmentation in the single market is vital for achieving cost effectiveness and for establishing innovative products with ease; believes that public procurement relating to innovative solutions should not be hampered by excessive risk aversion or purely cost-centred tendering; notes that modular IT solutions offer greater opportunities for smaller businesses and pilot projects.
- Encourages Member States to adopt tax incentives for research, innovation and private investment.
Amendments
Number |
Submitter |
Recommendation |
Text |
1 |
Bowles |
--- |
2a (new) Calls on the Commission to establish uniform definitions for such terms as 'open standards' and 'fair, reasonable and non discriminatory licences' and promote the use of standards in such a way that safeguards a reasonable return on investment for owners of intellectual property, but without creating standards 'windfall' profits; |
2 |
Lipietz Rühle |
+++ |
2a (new) Points out that the current patent system represents a threat to innovation as it does not answer the needs of some economic fields and as an increase in the amount of patents granted causes an increase in the number of patent disputes; calls therefore on the Commission to bring together, in cooperation with the Member States, a group of leading economists to draw up proposals for new, substantive Community patent laws; also calls on the Commission to carry out a study into the impact of patent litigation on SMEs; |
3 |
Lipietz Rühle |
+ |
2b (new) Welcomes the fact that the Commission is to adopt a Communication to promote knowledge transfer between universities and other public research organisations and industry; also welcomes the recent initiatives of the Commission to promote "Open Access" to scientific knowledge, which is aimed at improving its dissemination; |
4 |
Lipietz Rühle |
+ |
2c (new) Calls on the Commission and the Member States to choose open standards when communicating with the public; |
5 |
Gottardi |
0 |
2a (new) Considers that in order to meet the Lisbon objectives, a European innovation strategy should move towards knowledge and research in the broad sense and include technological development, technical innovation of products, services and processes, social innovation and investment in human capital; reiterates the importance of boosting the presence of women in the fields of science and technology, stressing the contribution that women could give to progress and innovation in these sectors; |
6 |
Gottardi |
+ |
2b (new) Considers it vital to develop research and innovation networks involving universities, science parks, businesses and the entire production system in order to generate concrete social and technological development policies; stresses that such a knowledge and innovation network could be the appropriate way to meet also the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises organised in the form of clusters or districts; |
7 |
Bowles |
- |
3a (new) Observes that it was the UK Treasury that commissioned the Gowers Review of Intellectual Property and that intellectual property is becoming increasingly important economically, for stock valuation, raising finance, inward investment and expansion into new territories; notes that it is IP that provides protection for investment in innovation, something which is especially important for SMEs seeking venture capital or joint ventures; notes that the findings of the Gowers review accord with those of the extensive public consultation on future patent policy in Europe conducted by the Commission's DG Internal Market and Services; |
8 |
Bowles |
--- |
3b (new) Noting that the European Community is a member of the World Trade Organisation and thus bound by the WTO-TRIPS Agreement on Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property rights, Article 27 of which prohibits discrimination between fields of technology when making patents available for inventions; calls on the Commission to review Europe's history of working requirements and compulsory licensing for patents and analyse whether the circumstances that caused them to fall out of favour have changed; |
9 |
Bowles |
--- |
4. Notes that innovation in services plays a major part in the economy and that for services protection of intellectual property is often restricted to trade secrets, which can be inadequate and means that cover is not as extensive as in (deletion) competing jurisdictions and can also be in conflict with transparency; notes that smaller businesses find it difficult and expensive to negotiate and enforce confidentiality agreements, a situation which can hinder growth and the raising of venture capital and the formation of joint ventures; |
10 |
Bowles |
- |
4a (new) Calls on the Commission to investigate alternative dispute resolution mechanisms relevant to intellectual property, including for breaches of confidentiality, in particular for the benefit of SMEs; |
11 |
Gottardi |
+ |
5. Emphasises that to achieve cost effectiveness and establish innovative products with ease, it is vital to eliminate fragmentation in the single market and encourage concentrations of SMEs in districts a basic requirement for developing and implementing innovation; believes that public procurement relating to innovative solutions should not be hampered by excessive risk aversion or purely cost-centred tendering notes that modular IT solutions offer greater opportunities for smaller businesses and pilot projects. |
12 |
Gottardi |
--- |
Encourages Member States to adopt tax incentives for research, innovation and private investment and calls on businesses to promote greater research and innovation by means of appropriate corporate social responsibility policies, in order to improve quality and well-being in the workplace for all working people and to protect the environment; |
Justifications
Am1 calls on the Commission to define RAND terms that are not used by the Commission in its current policy. Open Standards are a well-defined term that excludes RAND standards. Why should Parliament mind the riddiculous self-referential redefinition attempts of well-established professional terms as open standards, and follow concertated action by BSA and CompTIA? The European Interoperability Framework gets it right.
Am2 sounds harsh but reflects the current view of most patent examiners which warn against a patent crisis.
Am3 is an interesting issue discussed in the scientific community, cmp. berlin declaration, which will improve the research conditions.
Am4 follows the policy recommendations of Tim Berners-Lee, the father of World Wide Web (www).
Am5 blurs the message.
Am7 Results of the public consultation on patents has not been published yet. The deadline for submissions was 12th april 2006, which is nearly one year now. Only preliminary findings has been published. The Commission has received the Worst Lobbying Award for pouring patent-holding SMEs in the results of this consultation, and such after the official closing deadline. Therefore, the results of the consultation and the interpretation made by the Commission of those results should be scrutinised, and they cannot be used right now as they are not even published.
Am8 Patent Attorney Bowles intentionally mixes two distinct issue. TRIPs 27 is about granting discriminations (in the narrow context of trade) and does not apply to "working requirements and compulsory licensing", that is use of granted patents or enforcement provisions. TRIPs is no executive treaty. It is of no use to unilaterally deepen inflexibilities imposed by a trade agreement.
Am9 Patents are for industrial application, and not suitable for "services" e.g software, business processes at all. It is a common consensus not to apply patent law to business methods in Europe.
Am10 lacks precision. ADR for patents and confidentiality are different issues.
Am11 clarification
Am12 the European Parliament cannot "call on businesses to promote". It is not the role of business or other subjects to follow policy orders of the Parliament. Principle of normative individualism. Businesses and citizens, represented by MEPs, call on the government/administration to take action, not the other way around.