In a final bid to create a European Union-wide patent system, the European Commission threatened to drop the idea altogether if EU member states failed to act.
The Commission wants a one-stop shop EU system of patenting innovations to spur the creation of new products and services to boost sluggish growth and to fight product piracy and counterfeiting.
Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy said today that business wants clear, substantive EU rules for protecting intellectual and industrial rights.
"Nonetheless, five years have now passed since the Commission presented its proposals for a Community patent to the Council (member states) and the European Parliament, and there is still no agreement," he told parliament's Legal Affairs Committee.
"The reason for this delay lies in entrenched postures resulting in an unwillingness to put the long-term economic interests of all of European industry ahead of short-sighted national concerns," Mr McCreevy said.
Currently firms apply for patents in each member state, an expensive process, particularly when it comes to defending any infringement in one or more national courts.
"There is a danger that the debate on the community patent will parallel the play 'Waiting for Godot'. Lots of clever discussion but Compat (community patent), like Godot, the main character, never shows up," Mr McCreevy said.
"Unless we can find agreement soon on the community patent, this is not going to happen," Mr McCreevy said.
The commissioner will use the next three months to open a dialogue to see what can be done, and options include harmonising national patent laws. An industry association backed Mr McCreevy's push for a deal on patents.
"A strong patent system based on predictability, accessibility and harmonisation of rules is critical to enabling small and medium-sized firms to raise venture capital and protect their inventions from larger competitors," said Jonathan Zuck, President of the Association for Competitive Technology. Two other attempts at harmonising patents have faltered.
A 1998 directive on biotechnology patents has still not been fully introduced by three member states, five years after the deadline, Mr McCreevy said. Rules on patenting computer-implemented inventions were killed off by the European Parliament earlier this year.