Industrial property: Community patent

In accordance with mandate given by the Laeken European Council, the Council continued its examination of the main problems still to be resolved concerning the introduction of the Community patent, focusing in particular on the language arrangements for the future system, the role to be played by the national patent offices vis-à-vis the European Patent Office (EPO) and the judicial system. Even though the Council did not succeed in reaching unanimous agreement on the key questions, the great majority of delegations agreed to continue discussions on the basis of a compromise proposal presented by the Belgian Presidency. The Spanish delegation indicated that it intended to continue working actively on this basis during its Presidency.�