No rabbits, promises McCreevy

The IPKat's friend Stephanie Bodoni tells him that European Union Internal Commissioner Charlie McCreevy has been speaking out again on unifying Europe's fragmented patent system. Speaking at a conference in Berlin yesterday, he says the "time has now come" to make it easier for companies to defend their intellectual property rights in Europe.

Right: something the Commissioner will NOT be doing next week

The European Commission is now expected to publish its proposals by 4 April at the latest. Said McCreevy:

"When I took over as commissioner, I promised to make one attempt at the Community patent. That time has now come".

Disappointing the IPKat, who loves party tricks, the Commissioner contained:

"I will not be pulling a rabbit out of a hat next week, but I will be putting forward some constructive suggestions on the way forward".

The Commission is known to favour the creation of a European patent judiciary whose decisions would be subject to rulings of the European Court of Justice.

Left: Apart from European patent unification, Commissioner McCreecy has other pet projects

The IPKat says, let's wait and see if something workable is proposed before we howl it down. Merpel says, I may be imagining things but I have this feline feeling that the ECJ doesn't really have a great deal of experience dealing with patent law. Why not appeal to a panel of London black taxi-drivers? They know the answers to everything.

Some rabbit patents: inflatable Easter Bunny; Bunny baking pan; device for teaching children to make bunny ears when learning to tie shoe-laces; kit for supplying food to the Easter bunny

4 April update: The Commission have now issued a press release, setting out their "vision for improving [the] patent system in Europe". No rabbits, unfortunately.