Think tank europe

Balancing Diversity and Efficiency in the EU’s language regime: E Pluribus Tres for the EU Patent?
01/09/2010
Author : Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI - Italy)
by Stephanie Locatelli | IAI DOCUMENTI 15 – August 2010
 
Recently, the European Commission has breathed new life into the decade-long attempt to create a patent that would protect inventors throughout the European Union with a proposal making English, French, and German the sole languages of the EU patent. This would reduce the cost of patenting, thereby stimulating research and development within the EU. But the EU-wide patent has reached an impasse as member states struggle with the question of which languages should be used. Italy in particular has opposed the exclusion of Italian, raising more general questions about the language regime in the European Union. Are diversity and efficiency mutually exclusive, or is there a formula that can satisfy both criteria? It appears, in the end, that the Commission’s proposal is the most effective way of cutting costs while at the same time preserving the multilingual character of the EU. For Italy, however, the question of trilingualism in the patent system has become a kind of litmus test of its rank within the EU.

Download
 
Keyword search
 
Report inappropriate content
You need to be logged in to rate and comment on articles.
Click the log in or register button in the top right corner of this page.
Add rating
 
Back to ArticleList
Saturday, 11 February 2012
Europe's World - AUTUMN 2011 - #19
The Autumn 2011 issue of Europe's World is out!

We feel it's fair to say that few if any publications in the field of international relations and policy debate have grown as fast or widened their scope so remarkably as Europe's World.

Our 100,000 readers worldwide are drawn from politics, government, business, the media, universities and NGOs.
 
Advertisement



Vox Pop - Have your say...
WHAT IS THE EU’S ROLE IN AN INCREASINGLY POLARISED WORLD??
 


What do YOU think?
Please leave your comments at the end of the article 

 

le plus populaire du journal
le plus populaire de communité
le plus populaire des partenaires
Logon