Teknovis

A friend sent me an article about proposed reforms to the EU patenting system. The article is EU Nears Agreement on Patent Deal.

In general, I spend an amount of time working with patents. I think that they are best described as a necessary evil!

I think that the proposed changes described in this article would be brilliant, because it is currently far to bureaucratic and expensive seeking EU wide patents compared to US patents.

However, the prospect of brining in a new patenting system that requires more than one language (English) is missing the point! I think that the advocates of multiple languages need to think beyond their own countries, and take the global view!

This is best described by the words of one French official representative¹:

This is a bit ridiculous … the English version is the one that really matters

¹The French official is official in the sense that he is French, and he solely represents France in personal discussions with me whenever we go for a drink ;)