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PATENTS

Norway’s inventors lag far behind neighbours

Norway's scientists and inventors are being blown out of the water by their more ingenious Nordic neighbours, according a new report from the European Patent Office which ranks Sweden, Finland, and Denmark all in the top five.

Published: 7 March 2014 12:21 CET
Norway's inventors lag far behind neighbours
A Wheeko snake robot developed by the Centre for Advanced Robotics, a collaboration between NTNU Trondheim and Sintef. Photo: Sintef
Norway managed to file just 108 patents per million inhabitants to the European Patent Office in 2013, putting it in 14th place worldwide, and well behind it's neighbours. 
 
Sweden, in contrast, was ranked second worldwide after Switzerland, filed 402 patents per million inhabitants, Finland came third with 360 patents, while Denmark came fourth with 347. 
 
"This is proof that companies from around the world continue to see Europe more and more as a premier hub for innovation," EPO President Benoît Battistelli, said in a press release. "The strong position of European companies in patent-intense technologies also underlines the central role these industry sectors play in generating employment and growth in the EU economy."
 
Not a single Norwegian company featured in the list of top patent filers, while Sweden's Ericsson came in 10th place behind Korea's Samsung in first, Germany's Siemens in second place, and Philips from The Netherland in the third position. 
 

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FARMING

Aigner speaks out against biological patents

German Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner has intervened with the European Patent Office (EPA), suggesting limits to protection for produce and livestock as the organisation begins reviewing a broccoli case that could have broad implications.

Published: 20 July 2010 08:16 CEST
Aigner speaks out against biological patents
Photo: DPA

The minister has major doubts over whether the broccoli patent in question is truly an innovation for hybridisation, she told daily Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung.

“I have also told the president of the EPA of my concerns,” she said.

The hearing is set to take place in Munich on Monday and Tuesday, and regards a dispute over a patent granted to Plant Biosciences Ltd. in 2002 for a method of selectively increasing the level of a potentially anti-carcinogenic substance in broccoli.

In 2003 a Swiss company filed opposition to the patent, saying it was an “essentially biological process” and therefore not patentable, according to the EPA.

As a result of this case, along with another similar appeal, the EPA decided it could not produce a decision before settling exactly how to define “essentially biological processes for the production of plants or animals,” which will be addressed at the hearing this week.

Aigner told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung that while patents are important for the protection of intellectual property, she hoped the EPA would limit the range of patent protection for agricultural products. She added that there was a clear difference between discoveries and inventions.

Because plants and animals are living organisms, they should be handled by the EPA with special care, she said.

“We can’t treat new cases for plants and animals like other technical cases,” she told the paper. “Creation belongs to all humanity.”

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