Business lobby group calls for EU rollout of French patent initiative

A lobby group for R&D-intensive companies has called for the EU-wide rollout of a French initiative called the Patent Factory, to help businesses use intellectual property to grow.

Representatives of the lobby group, called IP Europe, and of the European Commission discussed the idea at the group’s annual event for small and medium-sized companies, according to the group. The event took place in Brussels on 19 June.

The initiative, called Patent Factory Europe, is intended to help European companies pay for patenting their innovations and using that intellectual property to secure investment to grow. An outgrowth of the French-based Patent Factory—also known as Fabrique à Brevets—which launched in 2015, the European version could be funded through the EU’s planned InvestEU programme at a cost of €150 million per year, the group suggested.