2021/2007(INI) | [ParlTrack]

Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)

Ba. whereas intellectual property rights (IPR) stifle innovation of start-ups by providing protection for established businesses;

Amendment 11 #

Draft opinion
Recital B b (new)

Bb. whereas the innovative solutions that will ensure a sustainable and digital post-COVID economic recovery are based on Intellectual Property rights, few micro and SMEs benefit from their IP when trying to get access to finance.

Amendment 12 #

Draft opinion
Recital B b (new)

Bb. whereas businesses with a large market share often charge consumers higher prices because of inflated intellectual property (IP) costs;

Amendment 13 #

Draft opinion
Recital B c (new)

Bc. whereas start-ups often receive public funding yet claim a private right to intellectual property;

Amendment 14 #

Salvatore DE MEO, Maria da Graça CARVALHO, Ivan ŠTEFANEC

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Stresses the importance of better cooperation between the European Union and the Member States to ~~harmonise IP legislation and facilitate the access of economic operators to~~improve enforcement of IPR r~~egistration at EU level; recommends that the current legislation be adapted in order to improve the functioning of the single market for IP~~ights across the Union;

Amendment 15 #

Leszek MILLER, Marc ANGEL, Alex AGIUS SALIBA, Maria GRAPINI, Evelyne GEBHARDT, Christel SCHALDEMOSE, Brando BENIFEI

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Stresses the importance of better cooperation between the European Union and the Member States to harmonise IP legislation and facilitate the access of economic operators to IPR registration at EU level; underlines that EU innovators should have access to fast, effective and affordable protection tools; recommends that the current legislation be adapted in order to improve the functioning of the single market for IP and to enhance consumer protection;

Amendment 16 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Stresses the importance of better cooperation between the European Union and the Member States to harmonise IP legislation and facilitate the access of economic operators to IPR registration at EU level, as well as of effective harmonization of enforcement of IP rights in the EU; recommends that the current legislation be adapted in order to improve the functioning of the single market for IP;

Amendment 17 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Stresses the importance of better cooperation between the European Union and the Member States to harmonise IP legislation and facilitate the access of economic operators to IPR registration at EU level; recommends that the current legislation be ~~adapt~~reformed in order to improve the functioning of the digital single market ~~for IP;~~ ; urges the Commission to issue its guidelines on the implementation of article 17 of Directive (EU) 2019/790, in order to assist Member States in implementing the Directive in line with fundamental rights, especially the right to freedom of expression and the right to privacy and data protection;

Amendment 18 #

Leszek MILLER, Marc ANGEL, Alex AGIUS SALIBA, Maria GRAPINI, Evelyne GEBHARDT, Christel SCHALDEMOSE, Brando BENIFEI

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1a. Underlines that IPR protection is a crucial component of the European Union's internal market as IPR-intensive industries generate significant part of EU gross domestic product and contribute to quality job creation; notes that the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) is becoming increasingly active for IPR disputes and that the Lisbon Treaty contains the still unused clause of Article 262 TFEU allowing for significantly strengthening the competences of the Union in the field of IPR;

Amendment 19 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1a. Recalls that innovative capacity across the EU is strong, with particular excellence in some essential technologies for the future; stresses the importance of an IPR framework that supports this capacity and protects the investments made by innovators and companies in new technologies or approaches;

Amendment 2 #

Draft opinion
Recital A

A. whereas global intellectual property (IP) registrations are constantly increasing ~~and the single market remains fragmented by differences in national legislation~~; whereas legislation applying across the single market for intellectual property protection creates a solid framework for European companies; whereas gaps remain, in particular in enforcement, which ~~are~~can hinder~~ing the~~ development of companies, in particular SMEs, and consumers’ access to innovative and safe products;

Amendment 20 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)

1b. Underlines the global nature of IPR development, in particular the need for trade-related support for European companies; stresses that international competitiveness and attractiveness is nevertheless rooted in a strong and resilient internal market, including in IPR protection and enforcement;

Amendment 21 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)

1c. Notes that the EU lags behind in IPR filing statistics and in the concentration of filings in computer technologies compared to other global competitors, recommends that the Commission takes steps to facilitate greater uptake of IPRs, including via swift implementation of the UPC;

Amendment 22 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Calls on the Commission to formulate a strategy to tackle and minimise infringements~~, hold-backs, counterfeiting and piracy, which continue to thrive and have proven to be even more dangerous during the COVID-19 pandemic~~ by fostering the circulation of quality content across the EU including by eliminating geo-blocking of copyright protected content or by open licences; warns against offensive IPR strategies which have proven to be even more dangerous during the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in lower access to essential protective equipment and vaccines;

Amendment 23 #

Salvatore DE MEO, Maria da Graça CARVALHO, Ivan ŠTEFANEC

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. CRecalls on the Commission ~~to formulate a~~Action Plan in IPR Enforcement and the subsequent industry initiatives; calls on the Commission to update its strategy to tackle and minimise infringements, ~~hold-backs,~~ counterfeiting and piracy~~, which continue to thrive and have proven to be even more dangerous dur~~; considers that illegal products can present a risk to consumers, which is particularly acute ing the COVID-19 pandemic;

Amendment 24 #

Leszek MILLER, Marc ANGEL, Alex AGIUS SALIBA, Maria GRAPINI, Evelyne GEBHARDT, Christel SCHALDEMOSE, Brando BENIFEI

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Calls on the Commission to formulate a strategy to tackle and minimise infringements, hold-backs, counterfeiting and piracy, which continue to thrive and have proven to be even more dangerous during the COVID-19 pandemic, posing severe health, safety and security threats to consumers; welcomes the Commission’s proposal for the Digital Services Act package which clarifies and upgrades the responsibilities of digital services, in particular online platforms;

Amendment 25 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2a. Stresses the importance of obtaining a European unitary patent system, which covers all Member States and, therefore, will create a one-stop shop for businesses, considerably simplify patenting in the EU and boosts transparency and facilitates licensing. Asks in this regard for a full Member States engagement for a rapid rollout of the unitary patent system.

Amendment 26 #

Leszek MILLER, Alex AGIUS SALIBA, Maria GRAPINI, Evelyne GEBHARDT, Christel SCHALDEMOSE, Brando BENIFEI

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2a. Warns against any upload filtering measures; reminds that according to the Commission’s own impact assessment, these tools are not consistently accurate and there are very few possibilities to inspect their reliability; reminds that the use of such tools, although they are able to remove large volumes of content very fast, brings at the same time a set of challenges in particular with regard to more context-sensitive content; asks that any additional measures aimed at removing or disabling access to illegal content shall not be decided before the DSA will be fully implemented; in this respect calls for the Commission to issue guidelines on article 17 of Directive (EU) 2019/790; reminds that the European Commission defended the legal interpretation of Article 17 before the European Court of Justice, according to which only manifestly infringing uses of copyrighted content may be blocked;

Amendment 27 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2a. Stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of critical IP in times of crisis, including via new harmonised licensing tools and a system to co-ordinate compulsory licensing to make the EU’s internal market more resilient by tackling, among others, the lack of availability of specific products and better protection of consumers’ interests by avoiding dramatic price increases; urges in this regard for a swift launch of the Unitary Patent System to facilitate affordable licencing and transparency through a one-stop shop;

Amendment 28 #

Vlad-Marius BOTOŞ, Jordi CAÑAS, Dita CHARANZOVÁ, Morten LØKKEGAARD

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2a. Stresses the importance of the IPR intensive industries in the green and digital recovery and resilience strategies; calls on the European Commission to strengthen the single market by cooperating with the Member States in finding a common approach to solving the infringements and minimizing the hold- backs, avoiding multiple judiciary procedures in case of European registered patents.

Amendment 29 #

Vlad-Marius BOTOŞ, Jordi CAÑAS, Dita CHARANZOVÁ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 b (new)

2b. Underlines that the open system and the technological transfer in the single market is crucial in having a real digital and green economy and a fast recovery; calls on the Commission to cooperate with the industry and the stakeholders to find solutions for a better differentiation between the essential and the additional patents and fora clearer approach on the obligations for licencing on the intermediate and final product;

Amendment 3 #

Salvatore DE MEO, Maria da Graça CARVALHO, Arba KOKALARI, Ivan ŠTEFANEC

Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)

Aa. whereas 45% of the GDP comes from IPR intensive industries, only 9% of the EU SMEs have registered IP rights, the lack of information on the registration and management of the IP hinders the full use of the opportunities offered by IP and data sharing; whereas the small number of IP registrations of micro and SMEs might be the result of high costs and administrative burden.

Amendment 30 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 c (new)

2c. Welcomes the fact that the Commission is evaluating the possibility to introduce a unified SPC grant mechanism and/or create a unitary SPC title, which would solve the actual situation of fragmented implementation across Member States.

Amendment 31 #

Salvatore DE MEO, Maria da Graça CARVALHO, Ivan ŠTEFANEC

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 d (new)

2d. Stresses the importance to urgently address the lack of harmonised IPR enforcement at the EU level; asks the Commission to evaluate if new measures or guidelines that facilitates cross border IPR enforcement could complement IPR enforcement Directive such as European harmonisation of legal obligations on procedures, procedural safeguards etc.

Amendment 32 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Underlines that a green and digital recovery and resilience in the single market ~~must be based on the full use of intangible asset~~could be based on among others the use of intangible assets supported by a clear legal framework on the full implementation of limitations and exceptions to IPRs; highlights that different industries might require different approaches, as for instance in the ICT sector patents are often used for other reasons than to protect inventions resulting from research and development investments; warns that litigation and threat thereof can also be a burden on the patent system when abusive behaviour is widespread, notes that this has a negative impact on innovative business behaviour; therefore calls to improve the transparency of patent ownership, raising awareness of the advantages of the legal protection of computer programmes by copyright in line with Directive 2009/24/EC and to limit abusive litigation practices; highlights the importance of disseminating information about the benefits of IPopen innovation and the Commission’s support programmes for all economic operators, in particular SMEs;

Amendment 33 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Underlines that a green and digital recovery and resilience in the single market ~~must be based on the full use of intangibl~~will be predicated on the application of new technologies, including those bas~~set~~ed on new IPRs; highlights the importance of disseminating information about the benefits of IP and the Commission’s support programmes for all economic operators, in ~~particular SME~~cluding the need for such information to be specifically targeted at SMEs active in knowledge-intensive sectors;

Amendment 34 #

Leszek MILLER, Marc ANGEL, Alex AGIUS SALIBA, Maria GRAPINI, Evelyne GEBHARDT, Christel SCHALDEMOSE, Brando BENIFEI

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Underlines that a green ~~and digit~~, digital and social recovery and an increased resilience inof the single market must be based on the full use of intangible assets; ~~highlights~~regrets that only 9% of EU SMEs have registered IP rights which is largely due to a lack of knowledge about IP; highlights therefore the importance of disseminating information about the benefits of IP and the Commission’s support programmes for all economic operators, in particular SMEs;

Amendment 35 #

Virginie JORON, Jean-Lin LACAPELLE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3a. Stresses that owning IPR leads to stability and economic growth of the companies, studies show that these companies pay their employees up to 19% higher salaries overall and tend to be more stable; calls on the Commission and the Member States to create a strategy to accelerate and support the research and development leading to the transformation of the R&D results into valuable economic enterprises through the registration and valorisation of IP at the European level increasing the number of the micro and SMEs using IPR thus creating a more resilient economy and single market.

Amendment 36 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3a. Stresses that patents exist to reward innovation, not to provide income for products that are not particularly innovative. Consumers consider that some software products that have been around for decades (such as Word and Excel, invented in 1981) are too expensive and that the protection afforded to them no longer corresponds to the innovation they bring.

Amendment 37 #

Virginie JORON, Jean-Lin LACAPELLE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)

3b. Notes that the Commission is very active in genericizing certain innovative industries such as the pharmaceutical industry, sometimes at the expense of employment and research in Europe, while allowing other less innovative industries (consumer software, music from the 1960s...) to reap a quasi- perpetual income at the expense of consumers.

Amendment 38 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Urges the Commission to cooperate with the Member States to facilitate access to financial support and credits based on intangible assets in order to encourage SMEs to register their IP ~~and reap the full benefits,~~; reminds that lowering barriers of access to data is essential to encourage the development of new services, therefore emphasises the need to address remaining uncertainties related to the legal performance of text and data mining that developers of AI may still face following the adoption of Directive (EU) 2019/790; calls on the Commission to issue guidance on how to reserve the right other than by machine readable means in order to make it publicly available for all, in a centralised way ensuring a faster and better economic recovery. ;

Amendment 39 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Urges the Commission to cooperate with the Member States to facilitate access to financial support ~~and credits based on intangible assets in order to encourage SMEs to register their IP and reap the full benefits, ensuring a faster and better economic recovery~~which aids relevant SMEs to develop and implement IP protection strategies; notes that not all companies should or would wish to register rights, depending on their strategy, and so support and advice offered should incorporate all valid IP strategies to ensure the most effective exploitation of a company's IPRs; considers that where registration is the preferred option, SMEs should be supported through simplified registration procedures and lower administrative fees.

Amendment 4 #

Draft opinion
Recital A b (new)

Ab. whereas there is a lack of information in some Member States regarding the benefits and the intrinsic value of IPR that increases total value of the company leading to a more resilient and stronger position on the single market.

Amendment 40 #

Leszek MILLER, Marc ANGEL, Alex AGIUS SALIBA, Maria GRAPINI, Evelyne GEBHARDT, Christel SCHALDEMOSE, Brando BENIFEI

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

Amendment 41 #

Salvatore DE MEO

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

2a Welcomes the call of the Commission to improve the conditions for companies to protect and use IP in public procurement. Invites the Member States to consider leaving IP ownership to the contractors where appropriate, unless there are overriding public interests at stake or incompatible open licensing strategies in place. Urges the Commission to clarify issues related to IP in public procurement in the update of the guidance on innovation procurement as announced in the SME strategy.

Amendment 42 #

Leszek MILLER, Marc ANGEL, Alex AGIUS SALIBA, Maria GRAPINI, Evelyne GEBHARDT, Christel SCHALDEMOSE, Brando BENIFEI

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4a. Notes that the use of AI systems in the realms of creation, innovation and science has grown spectacularly in recent years and is expected to continue to do so in the years to come, thus new technologies offer a unique window of opportunity to support the sustainable recovery of EU’s economy and resilience of the internal market while leaving no one and no region behind; underlines that the Commission shall incentivise and reward green technologies and inventions;

Amendment 43 #

Vlad-Marius BOTOŞ, Jordi CAÑAS

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4a. Reminds that the Commission’s data strategy already foresees the re- evaluation of the IPR framework with a view to further enhance data access and use accordingly; recalls in this regard that the first evaluation of Directive 96/9/EC on the legal protection of databases stated that the introduction of the new “sui generis right” has achieved a decrease in the production of European databases, therefore encourages the Commission to repeal the directive;

Amendment 44 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4a. Underlines the importance of the IPR in a resilient economy and in a green recovery and urges the Commission and the Member States to extend the eligibility for European funds to all the economic operators for the registration and valorisation of the IP leading to an increase of the added value of the product through the integration of licenses.

Amendment 45 #

Virginie JORON, Jean-Lin LACAPELLE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4a. Calls on Member States and the Commission to draw up a list of foreign companies found guilty of espionage, piracy or aggravated theft of intellectual property at the expense of European companies or Member States, and to exclude companies on that list from public procurement in Europe.

Amendment 46 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4a. Stresses the importance of reduced length of intellectual property rights, in particular in patents, vaccines, trade secrets, music, culture and publications, in order to induce more innovation;

Amendment 47 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4a. Emphasises the potential of Intellectual Property Rights with regards to incentivising research and innovation in the EU, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic;

Amendment 48 #

Leszek MILLER, Marc ANGEL, Alex AGIUS SALIBA, Maria GRAPINI, Evelyne GEBHARDT, Christel SCHALDEMOSE, Brando BENIFEI

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)

4b. Welcomes the Commission intention to strengthen the enforcement of IPRs at EU level, by broadening the Commission’s mandate and assigning it to the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), so that the latter does not only prevent counterfeit goods from entering the single market but can also act against illicit production of counterfeit goods within the EU; urges to bridge existing enforcement silos and to substantially strengthen the capacity of law enforcement authorities in order to address efficiently security problems for consumers revealed through the alerts in the RAPEX system; calls on the Commission to promote campaigns to combat the entry of the most harmful counterfeit goods for consumers on the market; underlines that for a well- functioning data economy, global enforcement cooperation but as well the sharing of data is necessary, in order to guarantee that as well companies not head-quartered in the EU do comply with European consumer protection rules; urges the Commission to enhance further cross-topic enforcement, to ensure full consumer protection; welcomes in this regard the “Digital Clearing House” and “PEER” initiatives;

Amendment 49 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)

4b. Reiterates the mission of the European Union as a global standard- setter in IP and its important role to address unfair practices and ensure a balanced approach at both EU and global level;

Amendment 5 #

Draft opinion
Recital B

B. whereas although intellectual property rights (IPR) are well regulated in most Member States~~, infringements and hold-backs are jeopardising the open system~~ exceptions and limitations are still lacking in many areas, infringements are jeopardising the exclusivity of these rights, while thate le~~ads to innovations; whereas counterfeit products are still abundant in the single market, with most of them ent~~gal framework would deserve more openness, especially in a post-Covid world, in order to allow for more legal uses serving ~~the EU through the digital market, causing financial losses of approximately EUR 60 billion per year~~innovation, not only for the benefit of society as a whole but also in the aim of placing the EU in a leading innovation position in the world;

Amendment 50 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)

4b. Calls on the Commission to formulate a strategy to protect consumers from undue price-hiking based on inflated IP costs;

Amendment 51 #

Leszek MILLER, Marc ANGEL, Alex AGIUS SALIBA, Maria GRAPINI, Evelyne GEBHARDT, Christel SCHALDEMOSE, Brando BENIFEI

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 c (new)

4c. Calls on the Commission, to propose an efficient and transparent uniform mechanism for the protection of non-agricultural GIs (such as handicrafts), which are often an important part of local identity, attract tourism, retain unique skills and contribute to quality job creation as well in less developed regions; stresses that this would provide consumers with better visibility and authenticity indications for these products;

Amendment 52 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 c (new)

4c. Calls on the Commission and Member States to make collective efforts to ensure that implementation of the Action Plan will result in strong and effective reforms and application of the of IP regulation, with the ultimate aim of securing competitiveness in the Single Market;

Amendment 53 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 c (new)

4c. Urges the Commission to update their intellectual property action plan with a public funding = public goods' approach.

Amendment 54 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 d (new)

4d. Welcomes the Action Plan’s aim to strengthen support to the EUs Geographical Indication system by protecting both agricultural geographical indications (GIs) as well as non- agricultural products, in order to improve their competitiveness, enable producers to fully benefit from their opportunities, and contribute to the economic, social and environmental sustainability in the Single Market;

Amendment 55 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 e (new)

4e. Stresses that the initiative should effectively support and build upon the EU’s efforts to set strong AI regulation to improve citizen trust and safety in issues linked to AI, blockchain and Internet of Things, specifically in the areas of healthcare, education, migration and green technology, while protecting consumers’ fundamental rights;

Amendment 56 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 f (new)

4f. Underlines that counterfeit products placed in the Internal Market and failures in market surveillance have negative implications to the detriment of consumers and overall trust in the Single Market; calls in this regards for an updated impact assessment of the overall functioning of the Enforcement Directive (2004/48/EC);urges the Commission to effectively enforce the implementation of the customs legislation and harmonise customs controls throughout the EU;

Amendment 57 #

Salvatore DE MEO, Maria da Graça CARVALHO, Ivan ŠTEFANEC

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 g (new)

4g. Considers the Single Market can and should be further consolidated by means of its own unitary patent system; calls on the Member States to renew the impetus towards the introduction of the unitary patent system and the Unified Patent Court;

Amendment 6 #

Draft opinion
Recital B

B. whereas although intellectual property rights (IPR) are well regulated in most Member States, a single market for enforcement of such rights is still missing, and infringements and hold-backs are jeopardising cultural diversity and the open system that leads to innovations; whereas counterfeit products are still abundant in the single market, with most of them entering the EU through the digital market, causing financial losses of approximately EUR 60 billion per year;

Amendment 7 #

Draft opinion
Recital B

B. whereas although intellectual property rights (IPR) are well regulated in most Member States, infringements ~~and hold-backs are~~ jeopardis~~ing~~e the ~~open~~robustness of the system that leads to innovations; whereas counterfeit products are ~~still abundant~~commonly found in the single market, ~~with most of them entering the EU through the~~in particular marketed via digital ~~market~~channels, causing financial losses of approximately EUR 60 billion per year;

Amendment 8 #

Leszek MILLER, Marc ANGEL, Alex AGIUS SALIBA, Maria GRAPINI, Evelyne GEBHARDT, Christel SCHALDEMOSE, Brando BENIFEI

Draft opinion
Recital B

B. whereas although intellectual property rights (IPR) are well regulated in most Member States, infringements and hold-backs are jeopardising the open system that leads to innovations; whereas counterfeit products are ~~still~~ abundant in the single market, with most of them entering the EU through the digital market, causing financial losses of approximately EUR 60 billion per year; whereas during the current COVID-19 pandemic the Rapid Alert system (“RAPEX”)1a registered an alarming new all-time high of alerts; __________________ 1aCommission Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/417 of 8 November 2018 laying down guidelines for the management of the European Union Rapid Information System ‘RAPEX’ established under Article 12 of Directive 2001/95/EC on general product safety and its notification system (OJ L 73, 15.03.2019).

Amendment 9 #

Michèle RIVASI, Erik MARQUARDT, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA, Caroline ROOSE

Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)

Ba. whereas the registrations for IP slightly increased in the first months of 2021 compared with the same period of the 2020, it is estimated that the Intellectual Property registration is still affected by the Covid-19 pandemics, with visible effect in the period to come especially in the development and innovation areas;

source: 691.464

2021/06/18 DEVE 60 amendments...

Amendment 1 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. ~~Welcomes~~Takes note of the communication on an intellectual property action plan to support the EU’s recovery and resilience, but regrets that the focus on international cooperation and assistance to developing countries is ~~poorly addressed~~only addressed through the lens of technical cooperation programmes, with a view to promoting better generation and management of intellectual property (IP); deplores that it fails to address explicitly the need to promote technology transfer, notably to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change, which is of primary importance for developing countries, notably LDCs and low and middle-income countries;

Amendment 10 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2 a. Considers that IPR is a key factor in promoting economic development, through which innovators and investors can encourage domestic innovation and attract foreign direct investment; in that regard, believes that IPR can strengthen economic advancement in developing countries by offering means to participate in global economic activities and by strengthening exports of local products;

Amendment 11 #

Michèle RIVASI, Erik MARQUARDT, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA, Caroline ROOSE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2 a. Points out that SMEs ought to be able to take full advantage of their technology and innovative products, processes or methods; underlines the importance of protecting IPRs, since infringements lead to losses for citizens and producers – such as loss of jobs, sales, or tax revenue - and could inflict serious damage and pose risks to the health and safety of consumers;

Amendment 12 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2 a. Recalls that one of the main challenges for developing countries is to climb up the global value chain through economic diversification, which necessitates fair and pro-development global trade rules;

Amendment 13 #

Michèle RIVASI, Erik MARQUARDT, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA, Caroline ROOSE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 b (new)

2 b. Welcomes the establishment of a cooperation project in Africa, the first of its kind, focused on intellectual property rights – AfrIPI, as it considers that this would lead to a better microclimate for SMEs, contribute to increasing competitiveness and flexibility, and that this cooperation would have a significant impact, as IPRs are positively correlated with economic development and prosperity, and will, in the long-term, enhance the resilience of companies, which operate in developing countries;

Amendment 14 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 b (new)

2 b. Recalls that, while the Special and Differentiated Treatment of the WTO is meant to safeguard the policy space of developing countries to better align their trade policy with their developmental priorities, it has been insufficient to enable their economic diversification;

Amendment 15 #

Michèle RIVASI, Erik MARQUARDT, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA, Caroline ROOSE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 c (new)

2 c. Points out that developing countries’ obligations under TRIPS are enforceable and can be challenged under the dispute settlement mechanism, while their rights to technology transfer are not enforceable; underlines that such asymmetry of rules is not coherent with the fulfilment of the Agenda 2030;

Amendment 16 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Strongly encourages the Commission to assist producers and their associations as well as local authorities in developing countries in unlocking the potential of IP and reaping the economic value of local innovations, geographical indications and traditional knowledge; reiterates its call, in this regard, to respect the progress achieved in the international protection of indigenous peoples’ rights over their genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge; calls on the Commission to increase efforts to offer qualified consulting services with the purpose to help innovative enterprises at the different stages of the research and innovation process, as well as to provide technical assistance and raise awareness as to the significance of the new opportunities which new technologies and digital means offer, since a well functioning IP framework is of utmost importance for growth and competitiveness;

Amendment 17 #

Michèle RIVASI, Erik MARQUARDT, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA, Caroline ROOSE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Strongly encourages the Commission to assist producers and their associations as well as local authorities in developing countries in unlocking the potential of IP and reaping the economic value of local innovations, geographical indications and traditional knowledge; encourages, moreover, consultation with business representatives and their associations, as well as with other interested groups, in order to collect and analyse the available data and information, with a view to ensuring that decisions taken in this field take into account the interests of all stakeholders in the broadest and most favourable manner possible; reiterates its call, in this regard, to respect the progress achieved in the international protection of indigenous peoples’ rights over their genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge;

Amendment 18 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Strongly encourages the Commission to assist producers and their associations as well as local authorities in developing countries in unlocking the potential of IP and reaping the economic value of local innovations, geographical indications and traditional knowledge; reiterates its call, in this regard, to respect the progress achieved in the international protection of indigenous peoples’ rights over their genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge; more broadly, calls on the EU and its Member States to support regional projects such as the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, which should favour products of local enterprises and in this way support regional industrialisation processes;

Amendment 19 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. SCalls on the Commission to boost research to determine how the IP strategies of companies based in developing countries differ from firms located in developed countries, and how legal systems in developing countries address IP protection; strongly encourages the Commission to assist producers and their associations as well as local authorities in developing countries in unlocking the potential of IP and reaping the economic value of local innovations, geographical indications and traditional knowledge; reiterates its call, in this regard, to respect the progress achieved in the international protection of indigenous peoples’ rights over their genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge;

Amendment 2 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Welcomes the communication on an intellectual property action plan to support the EU’s recovery and resilience, but regrets that the focus on international cooperation and assistance to developing countries is poorly addressed; in this regard, calls on the EU to assume the role of a key global player in the field of intellectual property and to lead international efforts in order to accelerate and facilitate the sustainable development of low and middle income countries;

Amendment 20 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Strongly encourages the Commission and EU Delegations to assist producers and their associations as well as local authorities in developing countries in unlocking the potential of IP and reaping the economic value of local innovations, geographical indications and traditional knowledge; reiterates its call, in this regard, to respect the progress achieved in the international protection of indigenous peoples’ rights over their genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge;

Amendment 21 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3 a. Invites the Commission to help developing countries put in place effective policies in order to implement firmer sanctions and penalties for intellectual property right infringements, especially in relation to counterfeiting and pirated goods;

Amendment 22 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3 a. Calls on the Commission to ensure that owners of standard essential patents commit to license their patents on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms in developing countries;

Amendment 23 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Recognises that IP systems contribute to the development of new medicines, but stresses that they must comply with international human rights law and public health requirements; notes that strong IPRs may limit access to medicines in developing countries while not necessarily encouraging pharmaceutical innovation that responds to the needs of developing countries; stresses at the same time that producers of generic medicines, unlike producers of innovative medicines, tend to be more regional; asks the Commission in particular to promote regulatory solutions that encourage competition in generic medicine production while maintaining a balance between generic and innovative medicines;

Amendment 24 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Recognises that IP systems contribute to the development of new medicines, but stresses that they must comply with international human rights law and public health requirements; notes that strong IPRs may limit access to medicines in developing countries while not necessarily encouraging pharmaceutical innovation that responds to the needs of developing countries; underlines, in this regard, that the current legal system on IPRs is not boosting enough research on diseases that are recurrent in developing countries, such as malaria or zika, due to lack of potential profitability; calls on the Commission and Member States to increase efforts to offer qualified technical assistance and research funding in view of developing vaccines that prevent future outbreaks of such diseases;

Amendment 25 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Recognises that IP systems contribute to the development of new medicines, but stresses that they must comply with international human rights law and public health requirements; ~~notes~~acknowledges that IP systems are needed, as through them it is possible to search for, design and disseminate viable solutions and mechanisms for prevention and for building resilience to health related issues, and that such systems contribute to strengthening abilities for instigating positive change and progress; notes, however, that strong IPRs may in some cases limit access to medicines in developing countries while not necessarily encouraging pharmaceutical innovation that responds to the needs of developing and least developed countries;

Amendment 26 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Recognises that IP systems contribute to the development of new medicines, but stresses that they must comply with international human rights law, public international law and public health requirements; notes that strong IPRs may limit access to medicines in developing countries while not necessarily encouraging pharmaceutical innovation that responds to the needs of developing countries; encourages therefore the Commission to initiate a broader discussion at WTO level on how best to avoid barriers to access to vaccines, medicines and other critical health services, in particular in cases of major health crises;

Amendment 27 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Recognises that IP systems contribute to the development of new medicines, but stresses that they must comply with international human rights law and public health requirements; notes that ~~strong IPRs may limit access to medicines in developing countries while not necessarily encouraging pharmaceutical innovation that responds to the needs of developing countries~~intellectual property protection is an enabler for global production and distribution of vaccines and other medicines, as well as research, development and innovation, and that intellectual property protection creates an environment of trust for producers and investors, as well as long-term certainty;

Amendment 28 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4 a. welcomes the announcement of the revision and harmonisation of the legislation on industrial designs and the recognition of the need to develop the protection of geographical indications for non-agricultural products; recognises that such measures are necessary and can have a very positive impact on business competitiveness;

Amendment 29 #

Michèle RIVASI, Erik MARQUARDT, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA, Caroline ROOSE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4 a. Believes that full enjoyment of IPRs is legitimate in sofar as R&I results protected by patents are not generated with public investment; stresses that, when an invention is generated with are levant amount of public funding, a fair share of patent rights should be secured in favour of the public administration concerned; consequently, calls on the Commission to issue a legislative proposal to create a system of public ownership of IPRs on inventions that are generated with substantive public funding, in which case any product covered by this type of patent should be subject to open and non- exclusive licensing; believes that this legislation should establish that public administrations are entitled to hold partial ownership of IPRs if, despite the know- how of a company, the protected invention could not have been generated without public funding or would only have been developed over a much longer time span;

Amendment 3 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1 a. Highlights that, according to UNCTAD, while developed countries have been able to mobilise massively their monetary and fiscal resources to prop up their economy (estimated at between 20 and 25% of their GDP), the poorest countries have mobilised just 1% to mitigate the socio-economic damage caused by the pandemic crisis[1];emphasises that a diversified economy is a prerequisite for resilience to future shocks;underlines that the main barriers to the industrial upgrading of developing countries are production capacity constraints such as access to technology; [1] “Reforming the International Trading System for Recovery, Resilience and Inclusive Development”, UNCTAD Research Paper (n°65) of April 2021, p. 3.

Amendment 30 #

Michèle RIVASI, Erik MARQUARDT, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA, Caroline ROOSE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4 a. Stresses that a more equitable distribution of vaccines around the globe is essential to combat effectively the spread of COVID-19 and its mutations; recalls that, while COVAX, the vaccine pillar of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Access to Covid-19 Tools (ACT) is aiming to have two billion vaccine doses available by the end of 2021, it will neither be enough to respond to the vaccination needs of the poorest countries to reach herd immunity, nor does it constitute an appropriate integrated global approach for scaling up production capacities worldwide;

Amendment 31 #

György HÖLVÉNYI

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4 a. Notes that the lack of access to affordable vaccines is still a major challenge in developing countries, considers that, therefore, investments in local manufacturing capacities, training of health professionals and the development of storage and roll-out capacities should be priorities in the EU external response to COVID-19;

Amendment 32 #

Michèle RIVASI, Erik MARQUARDT, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA, Caroline ROOSE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)

4 b. Recalls that the current multilateral framework protecting intellectual property rights has represented an obstacle for addressing the COVID-19 crisis and that the existing WTO-TRIPS flexibilities which are based on procedurally complex, country-by- country, product-by-product and prior negotiations with patent holders, were not fit for purpose for tackling previous global health emergencies and are not up to the challenge of the current one;

Amendment 33 #

Michèle RIVASI, Erik MARQUARDT, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA, Caroline ROOSE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 c (new)

4 c. Points out, furthermore, that past experience regarding the implementation of existing TRIPS flexibilities shows that individual countries often felt fearful of either retaliatory action by developed countries or the reputational costs of issuing compulsory licenses; underlines that compulsory licensing only applies to patents as one category of intellectual property rights (IPR), but that other IPR categories, such as data protection and trade secrets, which represent potential hurdles to the scaling-up of production of needed medical products, are beyond the scope of compulsory licences;

Amendment 34 #

Gianna GANCIA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

Amendment 35 #

Michèle RIVASI, Erik MARQUARDT, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA, Caroline ROOSE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Welcomes~~, as a positive step, the recently announced US support for a proposal~~ the declarations of WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala at the meeting of Parliament’s Committee on International Trade of 20 May 2021, according to which the existing TRIPS flexibilities are too ~~temporarily waive certain prov~~burdensome and more flexibility is needed; welcomes, in this context, the decisions of the ~~Agreement on Trade- Related Aspects~~Biden- Harris Administration in the US to support the waiving of Iintellectual Pproperty ~~Rights for the prevention, containment and treatment of COVID-19; urges the Commission, therefore, to follow through on its promise to engage in a~~protections for COVID-19 vaccines; recalls the declaration of President Von Der Leyen according to which COVID-19 vaccines should be considered a global public good; accordingly, urges the EU to constructively and ~~constructive~~proactively engage in text-based negotiations ~~at World Trade Organization level.~~for a temporary TRIPS waiver for all products and technologies including vaccines, treatments and diagnostics needed to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and to issue, with that purpose, a negotiation mandate;

Amendment 36 #

György HÖLVÉNYI

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Welcomes~~, as a positive step, the recently announced US support for a proposal to temporarily waive certain provis~~ that least-developed countries already enjoy a waiver, granted until 1January 2033, regarding the implementations of the Agreement on Trade- Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights for the prevention, containment and treatment of COVID-19; urges the Commission, therefore, to follow through on its promise to engage in active and constructive text-based negotiations at World Trade Organization level.provisions on pharmaceuticals, and is convinced that suggestions of removing IP protections for vaccines would not remedy the existing shortage of vaccines; urges therefore the Commission, in cooperation with the WTO , to follow through on its promise to engage in active and constructive text-based negotiations at World Trade Organization to work on incentivising and supporting the scaling up of production capacities for vaccines in developing countries and incentivise voluntary licensing agreements as well as to launch a dialogue about existing obstacles to voluntary licensing and how to overcome them;

Amendment 37 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Welcomes, as a positive step, the recently announced US support for a proposal to temporarily waive certain provisions of the Agreement on Trade- Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights for the prevention, containment and treatment of COVID-19; urges the Commission, therefore, to follow through on its promise to engage in active and constructive text-based negotiations at World Trade Organization level. ; takes note of the fact that the Commission submitted an initiative to the WTO in order to strengthen the multilateral response to the COVID-19 pandemic based on three components, with one of them referring to a clarification and facilitation of TRIPS Agreement flexibilities, notably certain aspects related to the use of compulsory licensing in times of emergency;

Amendment 38 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

Amendment 39 #

Michèle RIVASI, Erik MARQUARDT, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA, Caroline ROOSE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. ~~Welcomes, as a positive step,~~Notes the recently announced US support for a proposal to temporarily waive certain provisions of the Agreement on Trade- Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights for the prevention, containment and treatment of COVID-19; ~~urges the Commission, therefore, to follow through on its promise to engage in active and constructive text-based negotiations at World Trade Organization level.~~supports the EU in their discussions within the WTO on flexibilities within the TRIPS agreement; calls in this regard for a thorough analysis on how to apply and successfully implement article 31bis of the TRIPS Agreement and enable exporting licenses to countries that cannot satisfy domestic demand;

Amendment 4 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. CRecalls onthat the ~~Commission to continue strengthening intellectual property rights (~~post-pandemic global recovery should be aligned with international commitments on climate change and Agenda 2030; accordingly, believes that the global green transition requires a balance between the rules on IPR) protection and enforcement in non-EU countries through EU-funded technical cooperation programmes; welcomes in particular the intention to promote better generation and management of intellectual property (IP) on the African continent as part of a joint partnership building on the current four- year cooperation programme for Africatechnology transfer; recalls the previous efforts in UNCTAD to develop a Cod eof Conduct on Technology Transfer;calls on the EU and its Member States to take initiatives to reinvigorate it; but urges the Commission to refrain from harnessing IP chapters in the context of FTA (FTAs), without addressing the concerns of LDCs and low and middle income countries in terms of technology transfer;

Amendment 40 #

Michèle RIVASI, Erik MARQUARDT, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA, Caroline ROOSE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Welcomes, as a positive step, the recently announced US support for a proposal to temporarily waive certain provisions of the Agreement on Trade- Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights for the prevention, containment and treatment of COVID-19; urges the CommisNotes the recently announced United States’ support for waiving intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines; in this light, recalls the Commission’s statement that the EU is ready to conduct discussions on the possible impacts of a temporary waiver of TRIPS provisions, ~~therefore, to follow through on its promise to engage in active~~and that overcoming the world's production difficulties, as well as investments and constr~~uctive text-based negotiations at World Trade Organization level.~~ibutions to the COVAX system are key priorities for expanding the global access to vaccines;

Amendment 41 #

György HÖLVÉNYI

5 a. Strongly supports effective measures to address the shortage of vaccines against COVID-19, especially in developing countries, and therefore supports the Commission and the Member States in their efforts to push non-EU countries to lift existing export bans and to step up the donation of vaccines; calls on the Commission and the Member States to further increase their efforts to support technology transfer and voluntary licensing for intellectual property rights to treat endemic or pandemic infectious diseases in the world population;

Amendment 42 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5 a. Urges the EU to forswear any recourse to legal proceedings in the WTO or under free trade and investment agreements against countries that infringe TRIPS provisions when adopting policy measures to expand access to COVID-19 related medical products; requests the Commission, therefore, to propose, as an interim measure before agreeing on a COVID-19 related TRIPS waiver, an immediate WTO political declaration on a ‘standstill’ regarding any action relating to vaccines and other essential medical products to tackle the pandemic;

Amendment 43 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5 a. Notes that any decision taken within the existing framework should be conditional on the effective ramping up of global production capacity, ensuring that vaccines are fairly and evenly distributed through the removal of trade barriers on exports of vaccines, by encouraging voluntary licensing and sharing of know- how of leading pharmaceutical companies;

Amendment 44 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5 a. Notes that a temporay waiver of the TRIPS agreement on COVID-19 vaccines' patents could also help to create diverse regional manufacturing hubs and protect the EU and the rest of the world from supply chain disruptions in future pandemics;

Amendment 45 #

Michèle RIVASI, Erik MARQUARDT, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA, Caroline ROOSE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)

5 b. Calls on the Commission to engage in negotiations at the World Trade Organization to simplify the use of compulsory licenses under the TRIPS Agreement and provide more legal certainty to countries that use this flexibility, especially regarding the compensation to be paid; calls on the Commission to provide developing countries with technical assistance to enable the effective implementation of the current compulsory licensing framework when the circumstances provided for in Article 31 of the TRIPS Agreement occur in these countries, and to ensure that Member States smoothly implement Regulation (EC) No 816/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council on compulsory licensing of patents to export when requested by developing countries with insufficient manufacturing capacity facing public health crises; welcomes, in this regard, that the Commission explores with Member States the possibility of creating an emergency coordination mechanism to be triggered when Member States consider issuing a compulsory license;

Amendment 46 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)

5 b. Insists upon the need to support global open access to COVID-19 vaccines to scale up global production through technology transfer; underlines that the Commission has so far solely focused on encouraging Western vaccine manufacturers to share technology and licences on a purely voluntary basis; notes with concern that there is evidence that current producers of authorised COVID- 19 vaccines have refused offers to expand production from several potential generic pharmaceutical producers in the EU and abroad;

Amendment 47 #

Michèle RIVASI, Erik MARQUARDT, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA, Caroline ROOSE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)

5 b. Urges the Commission to maintain its strong support for innovation and intellectual property rights in global discussions;

Amendment 48 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 c (new)

5 c. Calls for binding technology transfers to scale up vaccine production; urges the Commission to take initiatives along this line and to proactively undertake efforts to make sure that vaccine manufacturers share IP and technology through the WHO C-TAP multilateral mechanism, particularly in low and middle-income countries;

Amendment 49 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 c (new)

5 c. Calls on the Commission to refrain from seeking expansive IP chapters in Free Trade Agreements with middle- income and low-middle income developing countries, such as TRIPS-plus measures, and to review the existing ones in order to ensure that they are in line with the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health;

Amendment 5 #

Michèle RIVASI, Erik MARQUARDT, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA, Caroline ROOSE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Calls on the Commission to continue strengthening intellectual property rights (IPR) protection and enforcement in non-EU countries through EU-funded technical cooperation programmes; in this context, encourages the Commission, on the basis of the EU’s experience, to assist and provide policy makers and enforcement authorities with knowledge and guidelines for improving the capacity to tackle infringements of IPR, and to promote feasible solutions, which could significantly reduce costs and simplify the procedures for obtaining, maintaining and enforcing the protection of IPRs, as well as to give information to rights holders about the changing infringement landscape and the supply of counterfeit goods; welcomes in particular the intention to promote better generation and management of intellectual property (IP) on the African continent as part of a joint partnership building on the current four- year cooperation programme for Africa;

Amendment 50 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 d (new)

5 d. Is of the opinion that the EU should urgently foster multilateral arrangements at WTO level, including a treaty on pandemics, as recently proposed by the President of the European Council, as part of the ‘Health and Trade Initiative’ to be adopted in November 2021 during the twelfth Ministerial Conference, as well as at the next WHO general assembly; underlines that this initiative is a complement to and not a substitute for a TRIPS waiver;

Amendment 51 #

Michèle RIVASI, Erik MARQUARDT, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA, Caroline ROOSE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 d (new)

5 d. Calls on the Commission to support developing countries in reviewing their national IP laws taking into account available flexibilities, especially the LDCs transition waivers and those not commonly used in these countries, such as the research exception and the regulatory review exception;

Amendment 52 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 e (new)

5 e. Encourages developing countries to strengthen regional value chains and intra-regional trade and investments in health and health related areas, notably through collective R&D efforts in medical research and regional pooling of resources;notes with concern that, according to the Global Trade Alert, as of 21 March 2021, 54 governments introduced export curbs on key medical supplies since the beginning of the year[1];stresses that regional trade pacts should be used to prevent export bans on key products in times of global and regional shortages, as in the case of the ongoing pandemic crisis; [1] “Reforming the International Trading System for Recovery, Resilience and Inclusive Development”, UNCTAD Research Paper (n°65) of April 2021, p. 20.

Amendment 53 #

Michèle RIVASI, Erik MARQUARDT, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA, Caroline ROOSE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 f (new)

5 f. Takes note of the Commission’s intention to evaluate and revise the Community Plant Variety Rights (CPRV); recalls the EU’s commitments to implement the Agenda 2030 and its objective to leave no one behind; stresses that Small-scale farmers (SSF)and agricultural biodiversity are critical to achieving the SDGs; accordingly, stresses the need to support a rights-based approach to implement the Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas adopted by the United Nations General Assembly at its 73rd Session in December 2018;

Amendment 54 #

Michèle RIVASI, Erik MARQUARDT, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA, Caroline ROOSE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 g (new)

5 g. Highlights that small-scale farmers (SSF) and agricultural biodiversity have a critical role in healthy, nutritious diets and ensuring the resilience of agricultural production systems to cope with climate change; recalls equally that seed diversity is vital in building the resilience of farming to climate change; notes with concern that trade and Intellectual Property rules protecting plants, genetic information and biological process in the remit of TRIPS and the Union for Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV 1991) have a detrimental effect on SSF innovation and agricultural biodiversity, although being critical to supporting food and nutrition security;

Amendment 55 #

Michèle RIVASI, Erik MARQUARDT, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA, Caroline ROOSE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 h (new)

5 h. Recalls that farm-saved seeds are estimated to account for over 80% of farmers’ total seed requirements in some African countries; calls for the EU to support intellectual property rights regimes that enhance the development of locally adapted seed varieties and farmer- saved seeds, in line with the provisions of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), which safeguards the rights of farmers to maintain genetic resources for purposes of food security and climate change adaptation, and Article 19 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas, according to which peasants have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their own seeds and traditional knowledge;

Amendment 56 #

Michèle RIVASI, Erik MARQUARDT, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA, Caroline ROOSE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 i (new)

5 i. Stresses that, while green technologies are predominantly held and protected by corporations of developed countries, the TRIPS Agreement and TRIPS Plus hamper the green technological upgrading in developing countries that must accompany any climate-friendly industrialisation process;

Amendment 57 #

Michèle RIVASI, Erik MARQUARDT, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA, Caroline ROOSE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 j (new)

5 j. Stresses the need for coherence between the special and differential treatment (SDT) of the WTO and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities”;

Amendment 58 #

Michèle RIVASI, Erik MARQUARDT, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA, Caroline ROOSE

5 k. Calls on the EU to take the lead in the identification of the salient barriers to the dissemination of technologies in developing countries to address climate change and to strive to promote the adoption of a Declaration on “IPR and Climate Change” comparable to the Doha Declaration of 2001 on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health, to foster the legal transfer of climate-friendly technology in developing countries, in compliance with the Paris Agreement and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), notably the principle of Common But Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR);along this line, takes the view that EU FTAs with developing countries should include provisions that promote technology transfer and enable Local Content Requirements in their public procurement and investment policies;

Amendment 59 #

Michèle RIVASI, Erik MARQUARDT, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA, Caroline ROOSE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 l (new)

5 l. Stresses the need to account for the carbon “embodied” in imported goods and services; acknowledges, however, the adverse impact of Border Carbon Adjustment (BCA) on developing countries locked into carbon-intensive and extractive industrialisation;

Amendment 6 #

Michèle RIVASI, Erik MARQUARDT, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA, Caroline ROOSE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Calls on the Commission to continue strengthening intellectual property rights (IPR) protection and enforcement in non-EU countries through EU-funded technical cooperation programmes, such as the three ongoing IP Key cooperation programmes with China, Southeast Asia and Latin America; welcomes in particular the intention to promote better generation and management of intellectual property (IP) on the African continent as part of a joint partnership building on the current four-year cooperation programme for Africa (AfrIPI); urges the Commission to work towards forging a stronger consensus on the importance of IPR protection in developing countries to increase creativity and support bottom-up research, with the aim of maximising global innovation and promoting sustainable foreign direct investment, while contributing concretely to social and economic growth at domestic level;

Amendment 60 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 m (new)

5 m. Stresses that Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States should be given special treatment in order to take account of their specificities and the potential negative impact of the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) on their development; in light of this, insists that such initiative should be in line with the special and differential treatment (SDT) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities” and accompanied by measures facilitating technology transfer both for climate adaptation and mitigation, to accommodate the needs of developing countries; to this end, stresses the need to develop are distributive mechanism that redirects new tariff revenue to ringfence financing for green transitions in developing countries, additional to ODA, to undergo an industrialisation process based on clean and decarbonised technologies;

Amendment 7 #

2. Calls on the Commission to continue strengthening intellectual property rights (IPR) protection and enforcement in non-EU countries through EU-funded technical cooperation programmes by increasing funding for targeted technical assistance and capacity-building around IPR; welcomes in particular the intention to promote better generation and management of intellectual property (IP) on the African continent as part of a joint partnership building on the current four- year cooperation programme for Africa;

Amendment 8 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2 a. Welcomes the proposals for measures to promote the effective use and implementation of intellectual property, to facilitate access to and exchange of assets protected by intellectual property rights and to combat infringements of intellectual property rights; points out, however, that it is very important that these measures should not result in new or excessive obligations on businesses, in particular in the SME sector

Amendment 9 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2 a. Welcomes that the Commission intends to ensure that R&I results achieved using EU funds are used for the benefit of the EU economy when IP on R&I results is to be exploited primarily in non-associated countries; stresses, however, that such condition should not be strictly required when results protected by EU-funded IPRs are exploited in low and low-middle income developing countries, and that instead applicants should explain how the candidate R&I project can critically contribute to the attainment of the SDGs in the country or group of countries concerned;

source: 693.868

2021/06/24 JURI 160 amendments...

Amendment 1 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Cristina MAESTRE, Marcos ROS SEMPERE

Motion for a resolution
Citation -1 (new)

– having regard to the Commission communication of 25 November 2020 on a Pharmaceutical Strategy for Europe,

Amendment 10 #

Motion for a resolution
Citation 5 a (new)

– having regard to the 1995 WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement),

Amendment 100 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)

14a. Considers that such EU sui generis protection must envisage necessary safeguards, including effective and transparent application and opposition mechanisms;

Amendment 101 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Cristina MAESTRE, Marcos ROS SEMPERE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15

15. Takes note that some Member States have already established national sui generis protection systems for GIs for non- agricultural products, ~~creating fragmentation, and that~~owing to the lack of a harmonised protection system, leading to fragmentation on the market place and legal uncertainty, also generating impacts to the detriment of producers; takes the view that harmonised protection at Union level would bring the necessary legal certainty to all players;

Amendment 102 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15

15. Takes note that some Member States have already established national ~~sui generis~~ protection systems for GIs for non- agricultural products, creating fragmentation, and that protection at Union level would bring the necessary legal certainty to all players along with guaranteed prevention of intellectual property rights violations concerning manufactured and artisanal products;

Amendment 103 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15

15. Takes note that some Member States have already established national sui generis protection systems for GIs for non- agricultural products, creating fragmentation, and that protection at Union level would bring the necessary legal certainty to all players, so that the EU can strengthen its interests at international level;

Amendment 104 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)

15a. Calls on the Member States that are still sceptical towards GIs for non- agricultural products to recognise the relevance of this protection given the fact that the existing trade mark protection does not enable producers to certify the link between quality and geographical origin;

Amendment 105 #

15a. Points to the advantages of establishing EU sui generis protection of geographical indications (GIs) for non- agricultural products for citizens such as fostering local identity, attracting tourism and contributing to job creation, thereby also giving a boost to less developed regions;

Amendment 106 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 b (new)

15b. Suggests to assign the EUIPO the responsibility for establishing a register for non-agri GIs in order to ensure a uniform examination and protection throughout the Union and in the long run to deviate from the two layer examination on national and on European level;

Amendment 107 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -16 a (new)

-16a. Stresses that the current design protection system at EU level was established 20 years ago and appears not being up to date anymore; stresses moreover that there is still not sufficient awareness on design rights and their benefits, especially with regards to SMEs, whereas designs can be the basis for successful business models;

Amendment 108 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16

16. Welcomes the Commission’s willingness to revise Union legislation on design protection to better support the transition to the digital and green economy and calls on the Commission to update the registration procedure to allow for new forms of design , such as graphical user interfaces, virtual and animated designs, fonts and icons, and those relevant following new developments and technologies to be protected in an easy and less burdensome way;

Amendment 109 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16

16. Welcomes the Commission’s willingness to revise Union legislation on design protection to better support the transition to the digital and green economy and calls on the Commission to update the registration procedure to allow for new forms of design to be protected in an easy and less burdensome way; calls on the Commission to further harmonise the application and invalidation procedures in the Member States;

Amendment 11 #

Motion for a resolution
Citation 6 a (new)

– having regard to Regulation (EU) 2021/241 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 February 2021 establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility,

Amendment 110 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16

16. Welcomes the Commission’s willingness to revise Union legislation on design protection to better support the transition to the digital, sustainable and green economy and calls on the Commission to update the registration procedure to allow for new forms of design to be protected in an easy and less burdensome way;

Amendment 111 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16

16. Welcomes the Commission’s willingness to ~~rev~~modernise Union legislation on design protection to better support the transition to the digital and green economy and calls on the Commission to update the registration procedure to allow for new forms of design to be protected in an easy and less burdensome way;

Amendment 112 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17

17. PNotes out that design protection for parts used for the repair of complex products is only partially harmonised; points out that some Member States have already introduced a ‘spare parts exception’ or ‘repair clause’ into their legislation, allowing for component parts of complex products to be manufactured and sold without infringing on IPRs; notes that this creates fragmentation in the internal market and legal uncertainty, leading to distortions of competition and hampering the transition to a more sustainable economy; calls on the Commission, therefore, to include a ‘repair clause’ in its future proposal;

Amendment 113 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17

17. Points out that some Member States have already introduced a ‘spare parts exception’ or ‘repair clause’ into their legislation, allowing for component parts of complex products to be manufactured and sold without infringing on IPRs; notes that this creates fragmentation in the internal market and legal uncertainty; calls on the Commission, therefore, to include a ‘repair clause’ in its future proposal, that will contribute to support the transition into a more sustainable and greener economy;

Amendment 114 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18

18. Stresses that while rights attached to trade marks are enforceable against infringing goods transiting though the EU, those attached to design are not; calls on the Commission to close this gap in the revision of the design legislation and make it possible for brand owners to put a stop to design counterfeits transiting through the EU; believes that the EU Design protection system should be aligned with the EU Trademark system in order to allow for design holders to prevent design infringing goods to enter into the EU’s customs territory and should encompass all customs situations, including situations, where such goods are not intended to be released for free circulation in the European Union;

Amendment 115 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)

18a. Is convinced that the design protection should be offered in a uniform way throughout the Single Market and suggests to the Commission to think about aligning the Design Directive and the Community Design Directive in order to create a stronger legal certainty;

Amendment 116 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)

18a. Considers that there should be no private use exception of 3D printed designs and that copies of infringing 3D printed files for private and non- commercial use have to be considered as design infringement;

Amendment 117 #

Motion for a resolution
Subheading 8

~~Counterfeiting and piracy~~Fighting IPR infringements

Amendment 118 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Tiemo WÖLKEN, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

19. Points out that counterfeit goods, ~~in particular~~such as, for example, counterfeit medicines ~~and~~or fake personal protective equipment ~~and~~or masks in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, can have serious impacts on the health of EU citizens and can cause serious harm to public health; argues that although market surveillance activities are aimed at protecting general public interests, while counterfeited products relate to the protection of private intellectual property rights, there is a close relation between counterfeited products and risks to health and safety of consumers;

Amendment 119 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19

19. Points out that ~~counterfeit goods, in particular counterfeit medicines and fake personal protective equipment and masks in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, can have serious impacts on the health of EU citiz~~there is a relation between counterfeited products and risks to the health and safety of consumers; namely, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, counterfeiting of medicines, personal protective equipmenst and masks can cause serious harm to public health; suggests that such relation is included and dealt with in the scope of the upcoming review of the EU General Product Safety Directive (GPSD);

Amendment 12 #

Motion for a resolution
Citation 6 a (new)

– having regard to Regulation (EU) 2019/933 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2019 amending Regulation (EC) No 469/2009 concerning the supplementary protection certificate for medicinal products,

Amendment 120 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19

19. Points out that some counterfeit goods, in particular counterfeit medicines and fake personal protective equipment ~~and masks~~ in the context of the ~~COVID-19 pandemic~~alth crisis, can have serious impacts on the health of EU citizens and can cause serious harm to public health;

Amendment 121 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 a (new)

19a. Notes that counterfeiting and piracy result annually in direct employment losses of 416 000 jobs and that the presence of counterfeit products in the EU market not only poses serious health, safety and security threats but also negatively impacts the environment, the creative and cultural industries and the sports sector;

Amendment 122 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20

20. Highlights that in 2016, up to 6,8 % of EU imports, or a value of EUR 121 billion, were fake goods and that their presence on the single market caused direct sales losses worth EUR 50 billion and direct job losses in the order of 416 000 for the period 2013-2017 1a; Points out that IPR infringement entails a low level of risk in terms of both the likelihood of detection and the punishment if detected; urges the Member States to develop effective and dissuasive sanctions to fight counterfeiting and piracy; _________________ 1a‘Status Report on IPR infringement’, EUIPO, 2020: average annual figures, 2013-2017.

Amendment 123 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20

20. Highlights that in 2016, up to 6.8 % of EU imports, or a value of EUR 121 billion, were fake goods and that IPR infringement entails a low level of risk in terms of both the likelihood of detection and the punishment if detected; urges the Member States to develop effective and dissuasive sanctions to fight counterfeiting and piracy; such sanctions cannot be subject to strictly profit-making considerations and should include the limitation of the hazardous nature of the products made available to the public;

Amendment 124 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20

20. Highlights that in 2016, up to 6.8 % of EU imports, or a value of EUR 121 billion, were fake goods and that IPR infringement entails a low level of risk in terms of both the likelihood of detection and the punishment if detected; urges the Member States, together with the European Commission, customs authorities, Europol, Interpol, and law enforcement authorities to coordinate strategies and to develop effective and dissuasive sanctions to fight counterfeiting and piracy;

Amendment 125 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20

20. Highlights that in 2016, up to 6.8 % of EU imports, or a value of EUR 121 billion, were fake goods and that IPR infringement entails a low level of risk in terms of both the likelihood of detection and the ~~punishment~~sanction if detected; urges the Member States to develop effective and dissuasive sanctions to fight counterfeiting ~~and piracy~~, especially when it is connected to organised crime , and enhance legal certainty for IPR holders and users;

Amendment 126 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)

20a. Calls on the Commission to take concrete actions to monitor wilful infringement of intellectual property rights, where infringement is used in bad faith as a deliberate commercial strategy;

Amendment 127 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21

21. ~~Stresses that the Internet is~~Regrets the significantly use~~d to~~ of the Internet for the distributeion of counterfeit products, infringing content and IPR- infringing services and welcomes the proposal of the Commission for a Digital Services Act on the basis of the principle that "what is illegal offline, is illegal online"; calls for the establishment of a robust framework to counter those IPR infringements; highlights the fact that proactive measures from intermediaries would contribute enormously to the fight against counterfeiting and piracy and that AI and blockchain could play an important role in detecting counterfeit and piracy and enforcing IPR in the whole supply chain; supports, therefore, the use of new technologies to combat IP infringements and welcomes publications produced by the EUIPO Observatory;

Amendment 128 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21

21. Stresses that the Internet is significantly used to distribute counterfeit products and IPR-infringing services and welcomes the proposal of the Commission for a Digital Services Act; highlights the fact that proactive measures from intermediaries would contribute enormously to the fight against counterfeiting and that AI and blockchain could play an important role in detecting counterfeited and pira~~cy and enforcing IPR in the whole supply chain~~ted goods available online as well as contribute to enhanced enforcement of IPR in the whole supply chain, from extracting raw materials to selling the final product; supports, therefore, the use of new technologies to combat IP infringements and welcomes publications produced by the EUIPO Observatory in this respect, in order to further promote the use of these new technologies;

Amendment 129 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21

21. Stresses that the Internet is significantly used to distribute counterfeit products and IPR-infringing services ~~and welcomes the proposal of the Commission for a Digital Services Act~~, with significant adverse effects for the EU manufacturing industry as well as for the creative, cultural and sport sectors; welcomes the proposal of the Commission for a Digital Services Act, which will contribute in particular to harmonising specific legal obligations and ensuring the application of the proportionality principle; highlights the fact that proactive measures from intermediaries would contribute enormously to the fight against counterfeiting and that AI and blockchain could play an important role in detecting counterfeit and piracy and enforcing IPR in the whole supply chain; supports, therefore, the use of new technologies to combat IP infringements and welcomes publications produced by the EUIPO Observatory;

Amendment 13 #

Motion for a resolution
Citation 6 a (new)

– having regard to Directive (EU) 2019/790 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market,

Amendment 130 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21

21. Stresses that the ~~Internet is significantly used to distribute counterfeit products and~~use of digital technologies to support the fight against IPR- infring~~ing service~~ements can~~d welcomes the proposal of the Commission for a Digital Services Act; highlights the fact that proactive measures from~~ be developed only under the conditions set out by the legal framework on the liability of Internet intermediaries ~~woul~~and con~~tribute enormously to the fight against counterfeiting and that AI and blockchain could play an important role in detecting counterfeit and piracy and enforcing IPR~~ IPR protection, but also following proper checks, including by the judiciary, pertaining t~~he whole supply chain; supports, therefore, the use of new technologies to combat IP infringements and welcomes~~o their incidence on fundamental rights; welcomes evidence-based publications produced by the EUIPO Observatory;

Amendment 131 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 a (new)

21a. Highlights that a strong notice and action system, avoiding the reappearance of infringing IPRs products and content, a strong Know Your Business Customer principle, an accessible trusted flaggers system and a properly balanced system of personal privacy rights and intellectual property rights is key to ensure the sustainability of the Internet and to tackle IPR-infringements online;

Amendment 132 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)

22a. Suggests to further clarify how rights holders, intermediaries and law enforcement authorities at national and at EU level could ameliorate their cooperation and how they could extend data sharing on counterfeited goods, detected online, with each other; recommends that domain name registries and registrars are included in the list of shared data, in line with data protection rules, in order to enhance the effectiveness of IPR enforcement;

Amendment 133 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)

22a. Welcomes that the Commission intents to come up with a EU-Toolbox against counterfeit in order to enhance cooperation among the rightholders, public authorities and intermediaries - through further clarifying roles and responsibilities - and with the aim to facilitate effective information and data sharing between key actors, promoting the use of new Tools and technologies to prevent and detect counterfeiting activities;

Amendment 134 #

Raffaele STANCANELLI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)

22a. Calls on the Commission to push for greater control and cooperation between cross-border customs agencies in the fight against the import of counterfeit products from non-EU countries that threaten the survival of EU companies and which can pose real risks to public health.

Amendment 135 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)

22a. Asks the Commission to further work on the establishment of an EU Toolbox against counterfeiting and piracy setting out principles for joint action, cooperation and data sharing among right holders, intermediaries and law enforcement authorities;

Amendment 136 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 b (new)

22b. Stresses that long term education on IP in schools on counterfeit and piracy would also be necessary in order to change the willingness to consume IPR- infringing goods and services; calls therefore on the Member States to cooperate with EUIPO in order to launch awareness campaigns;

Amendment 137 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23

23. Highlights that IP protection related to AI technologies is important and that even though current rules on the protection of computer-implemented inventions by patents may cover AI technologies, clear criteria for the protection of inventions created with the help of AI technologies are necessary; asks the Commission, therefore, in cooperation with the EPO and EUIPO, to provide legal certainty on this subject and to follow the issue closely at international level in the WIPO; underlines that AI and related technologies used for the registration procedure to grant IPRs cannot be a substitute for human review carried out on a case-by-case basis, in order to ensure the quality and fairness of decisions;

Amendment 138 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23

23. Highlights that IP protection related to AI technologies is important and ~~that even though current rules on the protection of computer-implemented inventions by patents may cover AI technologies,~~should be duly considered; notes that clear criteria for the protection of inventions created with the help of AI technologies are necessary; asks the Commission, therefore, in cooperation with the EPO and EUIPO, to provide legal certainty on this subject and to follow the issue closely at international level in the WIPO;

Amendment 139 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23

23. Highlights that IP protection related to AI technologies is important and that even though current rules on the protection of computer-implemented inventions by patents may cover AI technologies, clear criteria for the ~~protection of~~IPRs of creations and inventions ~~cre~~generated with the ~~help~~assistance of AI technologies are necessary; asks the Commission, therefore, in cooperation with the EPO and EUIPO, to provide legal certainty on this subject and to follow the issue closely at international level in the WIPO;

Amendment 14 #

Motion for a resolution
Citation 6 a (new)

– having regards to Directive 2004/27/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 amending Directive 2001/83/EC on the Community code relating to medicinal products for human use,

Amendment 140 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23 a (new)

23a. Recalls that in the Continental European understanding of authorship, the concept of 'intellectual creation' is tied to the author's personality, meant to apply to natural persons, and therefore artificial agents such as robots and artificial intelligence shall not be considered as authors, and information produced by them shall not be eligible to copyright protection; considers that the authors’ fragile position and often low remuneration should not be further accentuated by new categories of copyrightable works generated by Artificial Intelligence technologies which would compete with human artistic creation; rejects the concept of data ownership and stresses the need for enhancing access to and use of non- personal data;

Amendment 141 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23 a (new)

23a. Recognizes the high potential that blockchain technologies present for the registration and protection of IPRs; stresses that blockchain systems can help secure the supply chain by offering the traceability, safety and securing of each steps against the dangers of counterfeiting at each level of the supply chain; notes, in particular with regards to the registration of IPRs, the need for Intellectual Property Offices (IPOs) to adopt technical standards for their blockchain solutions that would promote their interoperability with each other;

Amendment 142 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23 a (new)

23a. Welcomes the Commission’s recognition of the importance to tackle the fragmented implementation of the Bolar exemption for medicinal products by clarifying all the actions covered by the Bolar, including the supply of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) and all the necessary administrative steps to be ready to effectively enter the market immediately after IP expiry;

Amendment 143 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23 b (new)

23b. Underlines that the lack of harmonisation of rules on authorship and copyright ownership can lead to divergent national solutions as regards AI-assisted works; awaits the results of the Commission’s study on copyright and new technologies focusing on copyright data management and artificial intelligence; Notes the potential of high quality metadata and new technologies to boost transparency and improve data management with regard to copyright and the identification of rights owners;

Amendment 144 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23 b (new)

23b. Points out that the 2009 Commission's Pharmaceutical Sector Inquiry Report declared patent linkage in the EU legislation as unlawful, as it distorts competition and delays generic and biosimilar market entry, frustrating the objectives of the Bolar exemption; therefore calls on a ban of all forms of patent linkage within EU legislation.

Amendment 145 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23 c (new)

23c. Underlines that, despite a high level of harmonization of IP rights across Europe, there is still a lack of efficient cross-border enforcement for those rights in the EU;

Amendment 146 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24

24. Regrets the fact that the Commission’s 2016 study on patent assertion entities (PAE) in Europe10 concluded that the EU legal framework already provides for safeguards although it did not provide a clear answer to the question of whether the business models of some PAE, consisting in acquiring patents from third parties and seeking to generate revenue by asserting them against alleged infringers by misusing litigation asymmetries~~, abuse loopholes in existing legislation and therefore~~; encourages the Commission to consti~~tute a problem that should be tackled; calls the Commission to carry out an in-depth study on this issue;~~ nue to monitor this issue and to carry out an in-depth study, namely on business models seeking to generate revenue from the acquisition of patents from third parties to tackle this problem; _________________ 10European Commission Joint Research Centre, Patent Assertion Entities in Europe: Their impact on innovation and knowledge transfer in ICT markets, 2016.

Amendment 147 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24

24. Re~~gret~~calls the fact that the Commission’s 2016 study on p"Patent aAssertion eEntities (PAE) in Europe"10 did not provide a clear answer to the question of whether the business models of some PAE, consisting in acquiring patents from third parties and seeking to generate revenue by asserting them against alleged infringers by misusing litigation asymmetries, abuse loopholes in existing legislation and thereforeconcluded that the EU legal framework already provides for safeguards against abusive behaviour; nevertheless encourages the European Commission to consti~~tute a problem that should be tackled; calls the Commission~~nue monitoring this issue and to carry out an in-depth stud~~y on this issue~~ies where needed; _________________ 10European Commission Joint Research Centre, Patent Assertion Entities in Europe: Their impact on innovation and knowledge transfer in ICT markets, 2016.

Amendment 148 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 a (new)

24a. Welcomes the efforts of all Member States to make sure that the courts take the principle of proportionality into consideration when dealing with injunction cases;

Amendment 149 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25

25. Notes that IPR protection is key in encouraging companies to invest in innovative products and processes and to produce new medicines, but is convinced that compulsory licensing and voluntary pooling of patents is important as a ~~last-resort~~ tool meant to allow life-saving interventions in the public interest; calls on the Commission, therefore, to analyse and explore possible options for ensuring effectiveness and better coordination of compulsory licensing in the EU, taking into account cases in which it has been used in the Union, the reasons for its use, the conditions under which it was granted, its economic consequences and whether it achieved the desired effect; in the aim of making full implementation of the flexibilities provided in the WTO TRIPS Agreement; reiterates its call to support proactive, constructive and text-based negotiations for a temporary waiver of the WTO TRIPS Agreement, aiming to enhance global access to affordable COVID-19-related medical products and to address global production constraints and supply shortages;

Amendment 15 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Citation 6 b (new)

– having regard to Directive (EU) 2019/790 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market,

Amendment 150 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25

25. ~~Notes that IPR protection is key in encouraging companies to~~ Acknowledges the importance of compulsory licensing or waiver of IPRs for medicinves~~t in innovative products and processes and to produce new med~~ as a last-resort tool meant to fight global health emergencies and to allow life-saving interventions in the public interest, ~~but is convinced that compulsory licensing of patents is important as a last-resort tool meant to allow life-saving interventions in the public interest~~and in anticipation of future needs resulting from the conditions imposed by the accessibility to certain medical products that ultimately jeopardise the lives of patients; calls on the Commission, therefore, to analyse and explore possible options for ensuring effectiveness and better coordination of compulsory licensing and waiver of IPRs for medicines in the EU, taking into account cases in which it has been used in the Union, the reasons for its use, the conditions under which it was granted, its economic consequences and whether it achieved the desired effect;

Amendment 151 #

Angelika NIEBLER, Pascal ARIMONT, Geoffroy DIDIER

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 a (new)

25a. Highlights that a strong and efficient patent protection is essential in order to incentivise research and production of innovative products including new medicines;

Amendment 152 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26

26. Suggests that an IP coordinator be established at European level in order to ensure a holistic and coordinated approach to EU IP policy and enhance cooperation between the different national IP authorities, the Directorates- General of the Commission and other bodies in charge of IPR, such as the EPO, EUIPO and WIPO;deleted

Amendment 153 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26

26. Suggests that , as a political priority, an IP coordinator be established at European level in order to ensure a holistic and coordinated approach to EU IP policy and enhance cooperation between the different national IP authorities, the Directorates-General of the Commission and other bodies in charge of IPR, such as the EPO, EUIPO and WIPO; the IP coordinator would further promote the fight against counterfeiting at highest political level, which becomes necessary due to the scale of practice of counterfeiting, its upwards trend and the negative impact counterfeited goods have on consumers and businesses alike;

Amendment 154 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26

26. Suggests ~~that an IP coordinator be established at European level in order to ensure a holistic and coordinated approach to EU IP policy and~~ enhanced cooperation between the different national IP authorities, the Directorates-General of the Commission and other bodies in charge of IPR, such as the EPO, EUIPO and WIPO;

Amendment 155 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26

26. Suggests that an IP and competition coordinator be established at European level in order to ensure a holistic and coordinated approach to EU IP and competition policy and enhance cooperation between the different national IP authorities, the Directorates-General of the Commission and other bodies in charge of IPR, such as the EPO, EUIPO and WIPO;

Amendment 156 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26

26. Suggests that an IP coordinator be established at European level in order to ensure a holistic and coordinated approach to EU IP policy and enhance cooperation between the different national IP authorities, the Directorates-General of the Commission and other bodies in charge of IPR, such as the EPO, EUIPO ~~and WIPO~~, WIPO and relevant civil society actors;

Amendment 157 #

Raffaele STANCANELLI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 a (new)

26a. Highlights the new type of anti- suit injunction (ASI) with extra-territorial effect that has been issued by some third countries, which aims to deprive the foreign counterpart of its right to initiate legal proceedings against an entity of a third country, including in any EU country, as highlighted by the Commission in DG Trade’s report on the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights in third countries.

Amendment 158 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 a (new)

26a. Reminds that more initiatives to address public awareness is needed in order to protect intellectual property rights, also in the field of 3D printing; Recalls that 3D-printing technology may raise some specific legal concerns regarding all areas of intellectual property law, such as copyright, patents, designs, three-dimensional trademarks and geographical indications;

Amendment 159 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 b (new)

26b. Defends that promotion of better IP management in the Research & Innovation community is needed in order to materialise Europe’s excellent research into innovation that is beneficial to its citizens and businesses; stresses that, in this context, publicly funded IP must be used in a fair and effective manner and that results achieved with EU funds should be used to improve the EU’s economy for all;

Amendment 16 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Citation 9 a (new)

– having regard to the 2009 Commission's Pharmaceutical Sector Inquiry Report,

Amendment 160 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 c (new)

26c. Recalls that IPR-intensive industries generate the bulk of EU trade activities; stresses the alarming poor IPRs enforcement framework in the context of trade relationships, especially at the multilateral level; asks, therefore, the Commission to call IPRs enforcement to be addressed at the World Trade Organization (WTO) and World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO);

Amendment 17 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Citation 10 a (new)

– having regard to the Council conclusions setting the EU's priorities for the fight against serious and organised crime for EMPACT 2022 - 2025,

Amendment 18 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Citation 10 b (new)

– having regard to the February 2021 join EPO-EUIPO firm-level analysis report on Intellectual property rights and firm performance in the European Union,

Amendment 19 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Citation 10 c (new)

– having regard to the in-depth analysis 'Standard Essential Patents and the Internet of Things' of January 2019 (PE 608.854),

Amendment 2 #

Motion for a resolution
Citation -1 a (new)

– having regard to the Commission communication of 10 February 2020 on a European Strategy for Data,

Amendment 20 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Recital A

A. whereas ~~strong~~a balanced protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPR), ~~which play a huge role in~~are essential to the European economy, a~~re essential~~s well as to EU’s recovery and resilience;

Amendment 21 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital A

A. whereas strong protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPR), which play a ~~huge~~very important role in the European economy, are essential;

Amendment 22 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)

Aa. whereas investments in intangibles were significantly less affected by the 2008 economic crisis, thereby showing the potential of IP assets in creating economic stability and growth that allows for more secure and stable jobs;

Amendment 23 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Recital A b (new)

Ab. whereas studies show that SMEs using IPRs grow faster and are more resilient to economic downturns and therefore they offer a more secure and stable labour market in IP-related sectors; whereas this points to a positive correlation between IPR ownership and quality and stability of employment, thus justifying the call for companies to ensure the increase in revenue per employee made possible by IPR ownership is reflected in the working conditions afforded to workers, including, but not only, when it comes to wages;

Amendment 24 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital B

B. whereas knowledge-intensive industries are source of growth ~~and prosperity~~; whereas between 2012 and 2016 they generated almost 30 % of all jobs and almost 45 % of total economic activity (GDP) in the EU, as shown in the 2019 industry-level analysis report by the European Patent Office (EPO) and the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO)8 ; _________________ 8 EPO-EUIPO, IPR-intensive industries and economic performances in the EU: Industry-level analysis report, third edition, September 2019.

Amendment 25 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)

Ba. Whereas the development and progress of knowledge-based industries depends to a significant extent on the rules governing intellectual property rights (IPR), namely on ensuring effective protection through uniform legislation on patents, trademarks, designs, copyright and related rights, geographical indications and plant variety protection, as well as through appropriate and harmonised application of the rules on the protection of trade secrets,

Amendment 26 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)

Ba. whereas IPRs-intensive industries offer better quality job positions, with better working conditions and remuneration; whereas, on average, employees in companies with high added value in relation to IP rights get paid around 20% more; whereas the detailed analysis on SMEs shows that, although only 9% of SMEs rely on IP rights, they generate up to 68% higher income per employee and wages paid by IPR owners are on average 19.3% higher than those paid by firms that do not own IPRs, especially in the case of patents;

Amendment 27 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)

Ba. whereas the Bolar exemption allows the development of generic and biosimilar medicinal products for regulatory approvals during the IP protection of the reference product in order to ensure market entry and free competition as soon as possible after the IP expiry;

Amendment 28 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)

Ba. whereas intellectual property is a fundamental right according to Article 17 of the European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights;

Amendment 29 #

Bb. whereas these facts also point to the importance of incentivising and helping SMEs protect and own their IPRs, namely by making sure that procedures are clear and simplified, since a higher number of successful SMEs directly results in a higher number of jobs available;

Amendment 3 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Citation 2 a (new)

– having regard to the European Parliament resolution of 20 October 2020 on intellectual property rights for the development of artificial intelligence technologies (2020/2015(INI)),

Amendment 30 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Recital B c (new)

Bc. whereas European innovators are frontrunners in green technologies, holding a major portion of green patents and having strong IP portfolios in technologies such as climate change adaptation, carbon capture and storage, water and waste treatment;

Amendment 31 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Recital B d (new)

Bd. whereas, as noted by the Commission in its Communication, the development of a flourishing health ecosystem in Europe requires a transparent system of IP incentives, boosting innovation whilst ensuring effective access to affordable medicines;

Amendment 32 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Recital B e (new)

Be. whereas there is a need to promote the valorisation and deployment of research and development in Europe as exemplified by the fact that in the field of AI only a minority of patent applicants worldwide are European even though a significant percentage of high-value publications on AI come from Europe;

Amendment 33 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Recital B f (new)

Bf. whereas IPR-intensive industries account for 93% of total EU exports of goods to the rest of the world;

Amendment 34 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Bg. whereas the COVID-19 pandemic has shown the geo-political importance of IP protection policies;

Amendment 35 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1

1. Supports the Commission in the implementation of its intellectual property action plan of November 2020, as strong, robust IPR protection at national, European and international level which enables return on investment is particularly important for the economic and social recovery from COVID-19 as well as the creation of a digital and globally competitive sustainable economy in Europe where innovation also serves the purpose of contributing to the common good of society;

Amendment 36 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1

1. Supports the Commission in pursuing the aim~~plementation~~s of its intellectual property action plan of November 2020, as strong, robust and balanced IPR protection at national, European and international level, which enables the green and digital transition, as well as return on investment, is particularly important for the social and economic recovery and resilience from COVID-19 as well as for the creation of a digital and globally competitive sustainable economy in Europe;

Amendment 37 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1

1. Supports the Commission in the implementation of its intellectual property action plan of November 2020, as strong, robust IPR protection at national, European and international level which enables return on investment is particularly important for the economic recovery from COVID-19, to ensure legal certainty, as well as the creation of a digital and globally competitive sustainable economy in Europe;

Amendment 38 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1

1. ~~Support~~Acknowledges the Commission in the implementation of its intellectual property action plan of November 2020, as strong, robust IPR protection at national, European and international level which enables return on investment is particularly important for the economic recovery from COVID-19 as well as the creation of a digital and globally competitive sustainable economy and respect for the GDPR in Europe;

Amendment 39 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1a. Acknowledges that IPRs protection encourages the creative, inventive and innovative activity, hence providing for the largest number of people the benefit of such activity; notes that such activity requires the recognition of the creators, namely, the inventors, innovators and authors, and makes it possible for them to obtain a compensation for their creative endeavours; champions the right of the creator, whether it be an individual or a legal entity, to prevent others from benefiting from the exploitation of creations without consent and without compensation to the creator; reminds that failure to do so encourages counterfeiting and piracy;

Amendment 4 #

Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ, Marie-Pierre VEDRENNE, Laurence FARRENG, Stéphanie YON-COURTIN, Nicola DANTI, Adrián VÁZQUEZ LÁZARA

Motion for a resolution
Citation 3 a (new)

– having regard to its resolution of 6 October 2015 with recommendations to the Commission on the possible extension of geographical indication protection of the European Union to non-agricultural products,1a _________________ 1a Texts adopted, P8_TA(2015)0331.

Amendment 40 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1a. Calls on the Commission to continue supporting the ability of European companies to innovate on the basis of a comprehensive intellectual property regime, in order to maintain effective protection for their R&D investments, to secure fair returns through licensing and, at the same time, to continue developing open technology standards that support competition and choice as well as the participation of EU industry in the development of key technologies at global level;

Amendment 41 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1a. Stresses that the preparation for the next global crisis urges decision and policy making to bring solutions allowing long-term resilience in society, in particular to design an industrial ecosystem in the IP sector where the balance between the different interests at stake is duly considered in the light of the circumstances, in order for the EU to be able to respond to crisis in an agile way;

Amendment 42 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 b (new)

1b. Recalls that the Regulation establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility calls for investments in digital technologies to respect the principles of interoperability, energy efficiency and personal data protection, allow for the participation of SMEs and start-ups, and promote the use of open-source solutions; is of the opinion that the whole IP system should be directed in this objective;

Amendment 43 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Subheading 2

~~SMEs~~Easier access to and sharing of IP- protected assets for SMEs and for the public interest

Amendment 44 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2

2. Highlights that IPRs have many benefits for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)~~, since~~; underlines that IPRs- intensive industries offer better quality job positions, with better working conditions and higher remuneration; notes that SMEs that own IPRs ~~have~~generate up to 68 % higher revenue per employee and wages paid are 20% higher compared to SMEs that do not; is therefore concerned that only approximately 9 % of SMEs own IPRs; welcomes, therefore, the IP vouchers, the IP-Scan and other initiatives of the Commission and the EUIPO to help SMEs make the most of their intellectual property (IP) and asks the Commission to consider to launch similar initiatives for all kind of intellectual property (IP) assets;

Amendment 45 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2

2. Highlights that IPRs have many benefits for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)~~, since SMEs that own IPRs have 68 % higher revenue per employee compared to~~; is therefore concerned that many SMEs tha~~t do not; is therefore concer~~ve difficulties to determined th~~at only approxim~~eir own IP stratelgy ~~9 % of SMEs own~~and to manage their IPRs; welcomes, therefore, the IP vouchers, the IP-Scan and other initiatives of the Commission and the EUIPO to help SMEs make the most of their intellectual property (IP) assets;

Amendment 46 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2a. Notes that SMEs are not sufficiently aware of the implications and importance of IPR registrations for increasing market success, as EUIPO’s IP rating tables for SMEs show that, between 2016 and 2019, the percentage of lack of knowledge among SMEs increased from 25 % to 38 %; in this context, calls on the European Commission and EUIPO to identify measures to promote the benefits that registration of intellectual property rights has on the development of SMEs’ activities;

Amendment 47 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3

3. Is convinced that support for SMEs, including financial and non-financial measures, is the right way to provide them with better access to IPRs and that the Union’s financial instruments are of the utmost importance in this context; calls on the Commission and the EUIPO, therefore, to continue implementing IP management support measures for SMEs in the context of the economic recovery, including the provision of one-stop shop access to information and related services and advice about IP; stresses that this support will help to leverage and promote all national and regional initiatives of members of the European Union Intellectual Property Network (EUIPN);

Amendment 48 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3

3. Is convinced that support for SMEs, including financial and non-financial measures, is the right way to provide them with better access to IPRs and that the Union’s financial and legal instruments are of the utmost importance in this context; calls on the Commission and the EUIPO, therefore, to continue implementing IP management support measures for SMEs, microenterprises and NGOs in the context of the economic recovery, including the provision of one-stop shop access to information and related services and advice about IP;

Amendment 49 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3

3. Is convinced that support for SMEs, including financial and non-financial measures, is the right way to provide them with better knowledge and facilitate their access to IPRs and that the Union’s financial instruments are of the utmost importance in this context; calls on the Commission and the EUIPO, therefore, to continue implementing IP management support measures for SMEs in the context of the economic recovery, including the provision of one-stop shop access to information and related services and advice about IP;

Amendment 5 #

Motion for a resolution
Citation 3 a (new)

– having regard to its resolution of 10 July 2020 on the EU’s public health strategy post-COVID-19 (2020/2691(RSP)),

Amendment 50 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3a. Supports the voluntary pooling and licensing of IP, as well as all legal incentives enabling innovative R&D projects, in terms of allowing maximum sharing of critical IP-related knowledge and data to incentivise the rapid pooling of IPR in times of crisis; reiterates the call from the Parliament in its resolution of 10 June 2021 to revisit the global framework for IPRs for future pandemics, and to support for proactive, constructive and text-based negotiations for a temporary waiver of the WTO TRIPS Agreement, aiming to enhance global access to affordable COVID-19-related medical products and to address global production constraints and supply shortages;

Amendment 51 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3a. Welcomes the announced European IP Information Centre as one of many measures to ensure that Europe capitalises further on the value of the knowledge our companies constantly create, develop and share and that they are equipped with the necessary tools and information or manage such assets more actively; this is furthermore shown by the fact that few European SMEs benefit from their IP when trying to get access to finance even though intangibles are some of the most valuable assets;

Amendment 52 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3a. Stresses that Utility models are fast and low-cost protection for technical inventions and are very attractive for SMEs; encourages therefore the Member States that are not yet offering this tool, to establish it and calls the Commission to consider the possibility to introduce the missing EU level utility model protection;

Amendment 53 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 b (new)

3b. Stresses the importance to remove all unnecessary barriers, especially in the case of health crisis, to enable researchers to find scientific solutions under exceptional time and efficiency constraints; highlights in this respect the central role of limitations and exceptions to exclusive rights, notably text and data mining, to further unlock research and public contribution towards European dynamic innovation and robust data spaces;

Amendment 54 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 c (new)

3c. Emphasises the need for a high degree of transparency for public funding and investments on IP driven innovation, especially in the pharmaceutical sector, notably in the aim to reinforce the public trust in science, therefore contributing to EU’s recovery and resilience;

Amendment 55 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 d (new)

3d. Welcomes the Commission’s announcement to facilitate data access and use, while safeguarding legitimate interests, via clarification of certain key provisions of the Trade Secrets Directive and a review of the Database Directive;

Amendment 56 #

4. Stresses that the Unitary Patent package (UPP), which includes the European patent with unitary effect (unitary patent) and the Unified Patent Court (UPC), ~~will~~is meant to make patent protection and dispute settlement across Europe less complex, less costly and more efficient; asks the participating Member States which have not yet done so, therefore, to conclude the ratification of the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (UPCA), as well as the Protocol to the UPCA on provisional application (PPA), as soon as possible, or by other means to declare that they are bound to the PPA in order to allow for a rapid entry into operation of the UPP;

Amendment 57 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4

4. Stresses that the Unitary Patent package (UPP), which includes the European patent with unitary effect (unitary patent) and the Unified Patent Court (UPC), will make patent protection ~~and~~more efficient, as well as dispute settlement across Europe less complex, ~~less costly and more efficient~~by avoiding the launch of parallel procedures in Member States, less costly, by reducing legal costs, and more efficient, thereby enhancing legal certainty; asks the participating Member States which have not yet done so, therefore, to conclude the ratification of the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (UPCA), as well as the Protocol to the UPCA on provisional application (PPA), as soon as possible, or by other means to declare that they are bound to the PPA in order to allow for a rapid entry into operation of the UPP;

Amendment 58 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4

4. Stresses that the Unitary Patent package (UPP) initiative, which includes the European patent with unitary effect (unitary patent) and the Unified Patent Court (UPC), will potentially make patent protection and dispute settlement across Europe ~~less comp~~comprehensiblex, less costly and more efficient; ~~ask~~invites the participating Member States which have not yet done so, therefore, to ~~conclude~~move forward on the ratification of the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (UPCA), as well as the Protocol to the UPCA on provisional application (PPA)~~, as soon as possible, or by other means to declare that they are bound to the PPA in order to allow for a rapid entry into operation of the UPP~~;

Amendment 59 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4

4. Stresses that the Unitary Patent package (UPP), which includes the European patent with unitary effect (unitary patent) and the Unified Patent Court (UPC), will make patent protection and dispute settlement across Europe less complex, less costly and more ~~efficient~~accessible; asks the participating Member States which have not yet done so, therefore, to conclude the ratification of the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (UPCA), as well as the Protocol to the UPCA on provisional application (PPA), as soon as possible, or by other means to declare that they are bound to the PPA in order to allow for a rapid entry into operation of the UPP;

Amendment 6 #

Motion for a resolution
Citation 3 b (new)

– having regard to its resolution of 10 June 2021 on meeting the global COVID-19 challenge: effects of the waiver of the WTO TRIPS Agreement on COVID-19 vaccines, treatment, equipment and increasing production and manufacturing capacity in developing countries (2021/2692(RSP)),

Amendment 60 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5

~~5. Encourages the Member States that are not yet participating in enhanced cooperation for the creation of unitary patent protection and/or have not yet acceded to the UPCA, to do so;~~deleted

Amendment 61 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5

5. Encourages the Member States that are not yet participating in enhanced cooperation for the creation of unitary patent protection and/or have not yet acceded to the UPCA, to ~~do so~~continue their process towards full participation;

Amendment 62 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5a. Notes that the number of national patent filings is higher than the number of European patent filings in the majority of the Member States; asks the Commission to evaluate the cost related to the European patent filings and its protection, in particular for SMEs;

Amendment 63 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6

6. Welcomes the one-stop-shop alternative dispute resolution system to be established under Article 35 of the UPCA; asks the Member States to enable the quick roll-out of the patent arbitration and mediation centre with the concern to allow the parties to still have contact points in their country of residence so that their right for access to justice is not undermined, and calls on the Commission to assess whether the centre could, in the long term, deal with all IP disputes;

Amendment 64 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6

6. ~~Welcomes the one-stop-shop alternative dispute resolution system to be established under Article 35 of the UPCA; a~~Asks the Member States to enable the quick roll-out of the patent arbitration and mediation centre and calls on the Commission to assess whether the centre could, in the long term, deal with all IP disputes;

Amendment 65 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6

6. Welcomes the one-stop-shop alternative dispute resolution system to be established under Article 35 of the UPCA; asks the Member States to enable the quick roll-out of the patent arbitration and mediation centre and calls on the Commission to assess ~~whether the centre could, in the~~the mid and long- term~~, deal with all IP disputes~~ competencies of the centre;

Amendment 66 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6a. Strongly recommends a comprehensive analysis and revision of the preliminary impact assessments on the effectiveness of the UPC, namely to SMEs, before the Court enters into operation, to thoroughly evaluate the affordability of the litigation costs, in particular its repercussions to the sustainability of SMEs;

Amendment 67 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6a. Recalls that innovative SMEs benefit from a consistent European patent system, and underlines that the Unified Patent Court Agreement (UPCA) and its Rules of Procedure represent a carefully balanced solution reflecting the Union's fundamental principles of proportionality, flexibility, fairness and equity;

Amendment 68 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6a. Welcomes the effort of the Member States to find appropriate solutions to deal with the effects deriving from the Brexit and to determine a possible new seat for the section of the UPC that has been foreseen for London, without delaying the launch of the UPC;

Amendment 69 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7

7. Stresses that the supplementary protection certificate (SPC) regime within the EU, while of great practical relevance, suffers from fragmented implementation across the Member States; urges the Commission to issue guidelines for the Member States and address this fragmentation, including by legislative proposals;

Amendment 7 #

Motion for a resolution
Citation 3 a (new)

– having regard to the Parliament’s 2021/2692 (RSP)Resolution on meeting the global COVID-19 challenge: effects of the waiver of the WTO TRIPS Agreement on COVID-19 vaccines, treatment, equipment and increasing production and manufacturing capacity in developing countries,

Amendment 70 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7

7. Stresses that the supplementary protection certificate (SPC) regime within the EU~~, while~~ is of great practical relevance~~, suffers from fragmented implementation across the Member States~~;

Amendment 71 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8

~~8. Acknowledges that the UPP does not provide for a unitary SPC title and calls on the Member States to support the establishment of such a title as a logical extension of unitary patent protection;~~deleted

Amendment 72 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8

8. Acknowledges that the UPP does not provide for a unitary SPC title ~~and calls on the Member States to support the establishment of such a title as a logical extension of unitary patent protection~~;

Amendment 73 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)

8a. Calls on the Commission to thoroughly evaluate the actual impact that a proposal for a unitary SPC would have on the generic and biosimilar medicines market entry, and on equitable patient access to treatments; at the same time calls on the Commission to take full account of and assess the effective implementation of the SPC Manufacturing Waiver in light of the conditions and limitations to it, especially in regards to stockpiling;

Amendment 74 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9

9. Asks the Commission, in the absence of a unitary SPC title, to ensure coherence between the upcoming Unitary Patent and current SPC regimes within the EU by clarifying that national SPCs may be granted by national patent offices on the basis of a Unitary Patent;deleted

Amendment 75 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)

9a. Prompts the Commission to proceed to an early evaluation of Regulation (EU) 2019/933 concerning the supplementary protection certificate (SPC) for medicinal products, so that the effectiveness of the SPC waiver can be reviewed in the light of the recent exceptional circumstances, and in the light of the aim to restore a global level playing field for makers of generics and biosimilars in the Union; such evaluation should also study the impact of the exception of SPC protection on research and production of innovative medicines in the Union by certificate holders and consider the balance between the different interests at stake, in particular as regards public health, public expenditure and, in this context, access to medicines within the Union;

Amendment 76 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)

9a. Points out that the introduction of a unitary SPC title could even be foreseen before the entry into force of the Unitary Patent and suggests therefore to the Member States to extend the mandate of the EPO, so that they can carry out the examination of SPC applications on the basis of unified rules, including suspensory condition depending on the formal decision at national level;

Amendment 77 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)

9a. Underlines that inefficiencies and lack of transparency and predictability hamper innovators and producers to the ultimate detriment of patients;

Amendment 78 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Tiemo WÖLKEN, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 b (new)

9b. Recalls the importance of ensuring the highest quality of the European Patent Office (EPO) patent granting process and the removal of the abuses of divisional patent applications together with a clear political accountability of the EPO, as vital for the credibility of the European IP system; asks the Commission to address the issue of abuses of the divisional patent applications at EPO;

Amendment 79 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Tiemo WÖLKEN, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 c (new)

9c. Recalls that innovation should match the most urgent needs of society and that supply of medicines, including generics and biosimilars, should be promoted in this context, as well as affordability and swift availability;

Amendment 8 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Citation 4

– having regard to the European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights, in particular Article 17 paragraph 2 thereof,

Amendment 80 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10

10. Acknowledges that information on the existence, scope and relevance of standard essential patents (SEPs) is important for fair licensing negotiations allowing the potential user of standards to identify the scale of their exposure to SEPs and possible licensors; notes that although good faith negotiations between willing parties occur in most cases, SEPs are often litigated; suggests to the Commission that it looks into possible incentives for negotiation that avoid litigation as it would avoid the inherent dispute costs and reduce other related problems;

Amendment 81 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11

11. Stresses that many patent applications declared in standard development organisations during the standard setting process as potentially essential may eventually not be essential to the standard as finally adopted or after the granting of the patent, and that an appropriate scrutiny mechanism would enhance transparency and increase legal certainty; welcomes in this regard the pilot study for essentiality assessment of SEPs9 ; acknowledges that such essentiality assessment should be truly independent and transparent on determining whether a declared SEP is essential or not; _________________ 9European Commission Joint Research Centre, Pilot study for Essentiality Assessment of Standard Essential Patents, 2020.

Amendment 82 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12

12. Asks the Commission to ~~further investigate~~carefully consider, together with the relevant stakeholders, the requirements for an independent, neutral and transparent system of third-party essentiality checks by identifying the demand for, assessing the impact of and defining the role that resources such as emerging technologies like AI and related technologies and/or technical expertise contributed by the EPO could play in that context, and to use the knowledge gained as input ~~for th~~to any future legislative initiative ~~on SEP envisaged for the beginning of 2022~~; underlines that any proposed system of essentiality must be subject to judicial review and be without prejudice to the rights of the parties to access the courts to adjudicate on disputes;

Amendment 83 #

12. Asks the Commission to further investigate, together with the relevant stakeholders, the requirements for an independent system of third-party essentiality checks by identifying the demand for, assessing the impact of and defining the role that resources such as emerging technologies like AI and/or technical expertise contributed by the EPO could play in that context, and to use the knowledge gained as input for the legislative initiative on SEP envisaged for the beginning of 2022 based on appropriate impact assessments;

Amendment 84 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12

12. Asks the Commission to further investigate, together with the relevant stakeholders, including civil society actors, the requirements for an independent system of third-party essentiality checks by identifying the demand for, assessing the impact of and defining the role that resources such as emerging technologies like AI and/or technical expertise contributed by the EPO could play in that context, and to use the knowledge gained as input for the legislative initiative on SEP envisaged for the beginning of 2022;

Amendment 85 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13

13. Acknowledges the importance of a balanced licensing system for SEPs and insists on the importance of stable, levelled, efficient and fair rules in that regard; ~~underlines that~~recalls the European Parliament's previous call for the Commission to publish biannual reports evidencing actual cases of unlicensed SEP use and issues regarding access to standards due to systematic non-compliance with ‘fair, reasonable and non- discriminatory terms’ (FRAND) ~~are vague legal terms that include legal uncertainty and calls on the Commission to monitor industry developments and provide more clarity on various aspects of FRAND~~commitments; calls on the Commission to provide more clarity on various aspects of FRAND, as well as case law on the topic, especially for SMEs utilising standardised technology for the first time, including through designating an observatory (a competence centre) to that effect, and to publish annual reports evidencing actual cases of non-compliance with FRAND and so-called patent ‘hold- up’ and patent ‘hold-out’;

Amendment 86 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13

13. Acknowledges the importance of a balanced licensing system for SEPs and insists on the importance of stable, efficient and fair rules in that regard; underlines that ‘fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms’ (FRAND) are vague legal terms that include legal uncertainty and calls on the Commission to monitor industry developments and provide more clarity on various aspects of FRAND~~, including through designating an observatory (a competence centre) to that effect,~~ and to publish annual reports evidencing actual cases of non-compliance with FRAND and so- called patent ‘hold-up’ and patent ‘hold- out’;

Amendment 87 #

Raffaele STANCANELLI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)

13a. Calls on the Commission to continue monitoring the conduct of foreign companies in international standardisation bodies which, together with recent decisions by foreign courts, places European companies at a significant disadvantage by undermining the competitiveness of the European market.

Amendment 88 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)

13a. Highlights that the question if SEP holder may choose the level of licensing in a supply chain is not clarified yet and therefore asks the Commission to cooperate with the relevant stakeholders in order to find an approach on this issue and to address it in its legislative initiative on SEPs;

Amendment 89 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)

13a. Highlights the value of existing industry-led voluntary initiatives to facilitate SEP licensing for the Internet of Things, such as licensing pools, which bring together the vast majority of European and international cellular technology developers;

Amendment 9 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Citation 4

– having regard to the European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights, in particular Article 8, 11 and 17 thereof,

Amendment 90 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)

Amendment 91 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 b (new)

13b. Emphasises the importance of increasing the transparency of SDO databases and calls on SDOs to update their declaration system and databases; highlights in this context Article 9(1) lit.c of EU Regulation 1257/2012 which provides that the EPO is given the task of receiving and registering licensing commitments undertaken by the proprietor of a Unitary Patent in international standardisation bodies;

Amendment 92 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 b (new)

13b. Notes the importance of transparency and the need to proactively provide necessary information upfront while licensing standard-essential patents on FRAND terms, in a way to ensure a fair outcome of good faith negotiations between parties;

Amendment 93 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Brando BENIFEI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -14 a (new)

-14a. Welcomes the initiatives and the actions towards strengthening, modernising, streamlining and better enforcing the system for geographical indications (GI) for agricultural products, food, wines and spirits to make it more precise and effective; notes that their implementation would contribute to creating and protecting quality jobs, to the promotion of social, environmental and economic sustainability of the rural areas, and to fostering the European cultural diversity;

Amendment 94 #

Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ, Marie-Pierre VEDRENNE, Laurence FARRENG, Stéphanie YON-COURTIN, Nicola DANTI, Adrián VÁZQUEZ LÁZARA

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -14 a (new)

-14a. Believes that the recognition of GIs for non-agricultural products is relevant to the priorities of EU programmes being developed, including those of the Industrial Strategy, with the development of short supply chains, as well as the Green Deal by fostering locally-made products with greater traceability and transparency on the origin of the product and manufacturing processes deployed;

Amendment 95 #

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Cristina MAESTRE, Marcos ROS SEMPERE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

14. Supports the Commission in its initiative to establish EU sui generis protection of geographical indications ~~(GIs)~~ for non- agricultural products, in order to align towith the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement), which sets out that geographical indications are those which identify a product as originating in the territory of a Member or a region or locality in that territory, where a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of the product is essentially attributable to its geographical origin; and the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications, which includes the possibility to protect GIs for both agricultural and non-agricultural products;

Amendment 96 #

Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ, Marie-Pierre VEDRENNE, Laurence FARRENG, Stéphanie YON-COURTIN, Nicola DANTI, Adrián VÁZQUEZ LÁZARA

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

14. Supports the Commission in its initiative to establish EU sui generis protection of geographical indications (GIs) for non-agricultural products in order to align to the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications, which the EU has signed and which includes the possibility to protect GIs for both agricultural and non-agricultural products; expects the Commission to propose legislation in this regard as soon as possible and at the end of 2021 at the latest;

Amendment 97 #

Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ, Marie-Pierre VEDRENNE, Laurence FARRENG, Stéphanie YON-COURTIN, Nicola DANTI, Adrián VÁZQUEZ LÁZARA

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

14. Supports the Commission in its initiative to ~~establish~~consider the feasibility of establishing an efficient and transparent EU sui generis protection of geographical indications (GIs) for non-agricultural products, on the basis of a thorough impact assessment of its potential costs and benefits, in order to align to the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications, which includes the possibility to protect GIs for both agricultural and non-agricultural products;

Amendment 98 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)

14a. Emphasizes that the introduction of an EU sui generis protection system of geographical indications for non- agricultural products will have a positive economic impact on microenterprises and SMEs, as well as a general impact on employment, development and tourism in rural areas, which could in particular help the EU’s recovery after the COVID- 19 crisis; believes that such sui generis protection of non-agricultural GIs would also facilitate access to third country markets through EU trade agreements;

Amendment 99 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)

14a. Stresses that, at least from the point of view of non-agricultural products, a harmonised system would bring benefits both for consumers, in terms of facilitating knowledge of the authenticity indications of products, and for producers, in terms of encouraging competitiveness and accelerating development, particularly in less developed regions;

source: 694.957

2021/06/25 AGRI 117 amendments...

Amendment 1 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Stresses the significant role played by geographical indications (GI) and traditional specialities guaranteed (TSG) in enhancing and protecting the reputation and intellectual property rights of the EU food and drink sector in the single market and international markets; recalls that the EU protects 3 295 products with GIs and 64 products with TSGs, and that, despite the fact that theyse products only represent 7 % of total EU food and drink sales, they account for 15.4 % of the volume of EU exports;

Amendment 1 #

Giuseppe FERRANDINO, Paolo DE CASTRO, Clara AGUILERA, Pina PICIERNO, Juozas OLEKAS

Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 (new)

-1. Recalls that intellectual property is a fundamental right, as enshrined in article 17 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, and that it therefore shall be protected; recalls that according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which they are the author;

Amendment 10 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Recalls that GIs have major economic value in the agriculture sector; the value of all these products has increased to more than EUR 75 billion, which corresponds to more than 7% of the total EU food and drink sales, of which over one fifth derives from exports outside the EU; stresses, therefore, the need to protect GI and TSG as intellectual property rights, both within the single market and worldwide through bilateral and multilateral agreements with non-EU countries;

Amendment 10 #

Sabine VERHEYEN, Tomasz FRANKOWSKI, Asim ADEMOV, Peter POLLÁK, Željana ZOVKO, Christian EHLER, Isabel BENJUMEA BENJUMEA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1 a. Notes that collective management of authors’ rights represents is an important source of income for majority of creators and artists in Europe, and is an indispensable element of adequate functioning of EU’s copyright/authors’ rights framework;

Amendment 11 #

Martina MICHELS, Niyazi KIZILYÜREK

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. ~~Recalls that the value of all these products~~Draws attention to the weight of all these products in European GDP and recalls that their value has increased to more than EUR 75 billion, of which over one fifth derives from exports outside the EU; stresses, therefore, the need to protect GI and TSG as intellectual property rights, both within the single market and worldwide through bilateral and multilateral agreements with non-EU countries;

Amendment 11 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)

1 b. Acknowledges that a growing number of authors and creators deliberately opt for publications under creative commons licences in different contexts of knowledge and cultural exchange, or in the distribution of educational opportunities and documentation; advocates that due account be taken of them in the Member States’ regulations under Article 17 and others, as well as in the development of a European copyright infrastructure and related registration procedures; stresses, therefore, that the Copyright Directive has for the first time recognised creative commons licences and thus strengthened a culture of sharing knowledge, particularly in the public cultural and knowledge sector;

Amendment 12 #

Mara BIZZOTTO, Angelo CIOCCA, Ivan DAVID, Gilles LEBRETON

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Recalls that the value of all these products has increased to more than EUR 757 billion, of which over one fifth derives from exports outside the EU; stresses, therefore, the need to protect GI and TSG as intellectual property rights, both within the single market and worldwide through bilateral and multilateral agreements with non-EU countries;

Amendment 12 #

Hannes HEIDE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Massimiliano SMERIGLIO

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)

1 b. Notes that the cultural and creative sectors are suffering the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, as protective measures have led to an existential loss of revenue for artists and cultural creators; acknowledges that artists' remuneration is often unstable and uncertain, it comes from different sources such as contracts, public grants and subsidies, which renders their income highly unpredictable, leaves them in precarious situations and weakens their resilience; points out that IPRs are an essential source of revenue for the cultural and creative sectors, providing artists and cultural creators with economic independence and social security through assured, ongoing income;

Amendment 13 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2 a. Notes that consumers generally link GIs and TSGs to localised and extensive production, respectful of animal welfare; calls on the Commission to propose binding rules on the origin of ingredients and on environmental, social and animal welfare conditions in the framework of the revision of the corresponding legislation, in order to match the consumers’ perception of GIs and TSGs and to contribute to the goals of the European Green Deal;

Amendment 13 #

Paolo DE CASTRO, Pina PICIERNO, Giuseppe FERRANDINO, Herbert DORFMANN, Salvatore DE MEO, Dino GIARRUSSO, Nicola PROCACCINI, Daniela RONDINELLI, Massimiliano SMERIGLIO, Nicola DANTI, Alessandra MORETTI

1 b. Recognizes the importance of ensuring equal opportunities for citizens to have access to education and culture, including cultural education, under the conditions created by the pandemic; Recognizes the opportunities for improving such access created by increasing digitization in the cultural and educational sectors and encourages the Member States to quickly and completely transpose the provisions of the Copyright Directive aimed at improving access to online education and digitized cultural heritage;

Amendment 14 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2 a. regrets the refusal, in the framework of the ongoing negotiations for the modernisation of the EU-Chile Association Agreement, of granting exclusive protection to flagship EU geographical indications, in particular in the wine sector; calls on the Commission to further enhance the protection of Intellectual Property Rights, notably Geographical Indications, in all EU trade agreements;

Amendment 14 #

Sabine VERHEYEN, Tomasz FRANKOWSKI, Asim ADEMOV, Peter POLLÁK, Željana ZOVKO, Christian EHLER, Isabel BENJUMEA BENJUMEA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)

1 b. Emphasises that collective management of authors rights is a vital element for creators’ continuous remuneration based on their copyright/authors’ rights throughout their artistic career while providing broadest possible access to cultural and creative works for the public; whereas global streaming platforms systematically pressure European creators to give away their copyright/authors’ rights against one-off payments;

Amendment 15 #

Sabine VERHEYEN, Tomasz FRANKOWSKI, Asim ADEMOV, Peter POLLÁK, Željana ZOVKO, Christian EHLER, Isabel BENJUMEA BENJUMEA, François-Xavier BELLAMY

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2a. Stresses the importance of ensuring adequate protection of geographical indications (GI) and traditional specialities guaranteed (TSG) in order to preserve and protect jobs that are directly and indirectly linked to the production and distribution of these products in the European agricultural sector;

Amendment 15 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)

1 c. Notes that IPR protection is key in encouraging companies to invest in innovative products and processes, especially to produce new content and products, but is convinced that compulsory licensing of patents is important as a last-resort tool meant to allow life-saving interventions in the public interest; calls on the Commission, therefore, to analyse and explore possible options for ensuring effectiveness and better coordination of compulsory licensing in the EU, taking into account cases in which it has been used in the Union, the reasons for its use, the conditions under which it was granted, its economic consequences and whether it achieved the desired effect;

Amendment 16 #

Mara BIZZOTTO, Angelo CIOCCA, Ivan DAVID, Gilles LEBRETON

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2a. Recalls that the Commission spends around EUR 50 million each year on promoting high-quality products in the EU and worldwide and that this amount needs to be increased;

Amendment 16 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)

1 c. Urges the Member States to support cultural heritage institutions and educational institutions to make full use of the opportunities of digitization, inter alia developing public digital infrastructures for digital education and access to digitized cultural heritage without relying on the services of intermediaries whose business models are based on the extraction of personal data from European Citizens;

Amendment 17 #

Martina MICHELS, Alexis GEORGOULIS, Niyazi KIZILYÜREK

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

~~3. Points out that promotion 3. campaigns raise consumer awareness about these products~~Notes that knowledge and recognition of GI and TSG schemes and the corresponding logos are weak among European consumers, whereas the reputation of emblematic European GI products is, in contrast, well established; supports, therefore, any promotion campaigns which would aim to raise consumer awareness about these products, as that would improve consumer understanding and recognition of them, making it easy to identify their authenticity and, indirectly, to protect them against usurpation and imitations; calls on the Commission to strengthen GI and TSG promotional campaigns in the next revision of the corresponding legislation;

Amendment 17 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)

1c. Calls for continued intensive dialogue on the appropriate definition of copyright-protected uploaded content, which truly recognises different types of licensing as well as non-licensed works, and encourages an exchange of views on remuneration models that must be commensurate with modern uses of music and media platforms.'

Amendment 18 #

Hannes HEIDE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Massimiliano SMERIGLIO

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Points out that promotion campaigns raise consumer awareness about these products, making it easy to identify their authenticity and, indirectly, to protect them against usurpation and imitations; calls on the Commission to strengthen GI and TSG promotional campaigns in the next revision of the corresponding legislation; Invites the Commission and Member States to adapt public procurement mechanisms in order to improve access to quality-labelled products such as GIs and TSGs

Amendment 18 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)

1 c. Recognises that online piracy leads to considerable economic losses to the European cultural and creative sectors which ultimately results in less investment in creative and journalistic content and sports to the detriment of cultural diversity and ultimately the European consumer;

Amendment 19 #

Hannes HEIDE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Massimiliano SMERIGLIO

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Points out that promotion campaigns raise consumer awareness about these products, making it easy to identify their authenticity and, indirectly, to protect them against usurpation and imitations; calls on the Commission to strengthen GI and TSG promotional campaigns in the next revision of the corresponding legislation, including with the aim to increase local consumption, support short supply chains and a healthy, resilient and sustainable territorialised food systems ;

Amendment 19 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 d (new)

1 d. Acknowledges that IPRs protection encourages the creative, inventive and innovative activity, hence providing for the largest number of people the benefit of such activity; notes that such activity requires the recognition of the creators, namely, the inventors, innovators and authors, and makes it possible for them to obtain a compensation for their creative endeavours; champions the right of the creator, whether it be an individual or a legal entity, to prevent others from benefiting from the exploitation of creations without consent and without compensation to the creator; reminds that failure to do so encourages counterfeiting and piracy;

Amendment 2 #

Mara BIZZOTTO, Angelo CIOCCA, Ivan DAVID, Gilles LEBRETON

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Stresses the significant role played by geographical indications (GI) and traditional specialities guaranteed (TSG) in protecting the expertise and reputation of the EU food and drink sector in the single market and international markets, despite the fact that they only represent 7 % of total EU food and drink sales and 15.5% of total EU agri-food exports;

Amendment 2 #

Martina MICHELS, Niyazi KIZILYÜREK

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Recognises the paramount importance of ‘intangible assets’ and intellectual property (IP)-intensive industries in the economic recovery and resilience of the EU in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic; underlines the need to protect these by law, allowing creators to benefit from their intellectual property rights (IPRs) and acknowledges that access to education, knowledge, information and culture are fundamental rights, which must be guaranteed by copyright limitations such as those established by the revised EU Copyright Directive;

Amendment 20 #

Hannes HEIDE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Massimiliano SMERIGLIO

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Points out that promotion campaigns ~~raise consumer awareness about these products~~make it possible to raise awareness and properly inform consumers about the quality and orgin of these products, thereby guaranteeing legal certainty, making it easy to identify their authenticity and, indirectly, to protect them against usurpation and imitations; cCalls on the Commission to strengthen GI and TSG promotional campaigns in the next revision of the corresponding legislation;

Amendment 20 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Asks the Member States to ensure that companies from the cultural and creative sectors, especially content producers, are encouraged to acquire IPRs on their creations and improve their position in competitive markets; outlines that companies who own IPRs have 20 % higher revenue, improving their ability to access previously untapped highly competitive markets1 ; points out that employees also increasingly benefit from a high level of protection, as IPR-owning companies pay wages that are on average 19% higher than firms that do not own IPR2a; is therefore concerned that only approximately 9 % of SMEs own IPRs; welcomes, therefore, the IP vouchers, the IP-Scan and other initiatives of the Commission and the EUIPO to help SMEs make the most of their IP and asks the Commission to consider to launch similar initiatives for all kind of IP assets; _________________ 1 European Union Intellectual Property Office Observatory, ‘Impact of intellectual property rights intensive industries in the European Union’, IP Contribution, four EU-wide studies on the contribution of intellectual property rights (IPRs) to the EU economy, 2021. https://euipo.europa.eu/ohimportal/en/web/ observatory/ip-contribution#. 2aEuropean Union Intellectual Property Office Observatory, ‘Impact of intellectual property rights intensive industries in the European Union’, IP Contribution, four EU-wide studies on the contribution of intellectual property rights (IPRs) to the EU economy, 2021. https://euipo.europa.eu/ohimportal/en/we b/observatory/ip-contribution#.

Amendment 21 #

Mara BIZZOTTO, Angelo CIOCCA, Ivan DAVID, Gilles LEBRETON

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Points out that promotion campaigns raise consumer awareness about these products, making it easy to identify their authenticity and, indirectly, to protect them against usurpation and imitations that harm their image; calls on the Commission to strengthen GI and TSG promotional campaigns in the next revision of the corresponding legislation;

Amendment 21 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

Amendment 22 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3a. Considers that the issue overburdening producers with administration in connection with the registration, amendment and management of GI and TSG product specifications should be at the heart of future discussions; recalls that the procedures for amending the specifications for GI products have been simplified and made more efficient for wine and agri-food products as part of the review of the common agricultural policy reform, and that this approach should be strengthened in future;

Amendment 22 #

Irène TOLLERET, Adrián VÁZQUEZ LÁZARA, Alin MITUȚA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Asks the Member States to ensure that companies from the cultural and creative sectors, especially content producers, are encouraged to keep or acquire IPRs on their creations and improve their position in competitive markets; outlines that companies who own IPRs have 20 % higher revenue, improving their ability to access previously untapped highly competitive markets1; _________________ 1 European Union Intellectual Property Office Observatory, ‘Impact of intellectual property rights intensive industries in the European Union’, IP Contribution, four EU-wide studies on the contribution of intellectual property rights (IPRs) to the EU economy, 2021.: https://euipo.europa.eu/ohimportal/en/web/ observatory/ip-contribution#.

Amendment 23 #

3 a. Believes that GIs should be better protected against all practices of commercial parasitism in Union law, including when used as ingredients or in services. It is important to ensure that the reputation of the GI in question is not diluted nor weakened by a third party.

Amendment 23 #

Giuseppe FERRANDINO, Paolo DE CASTRO, Clara AGUILERA, Pina PICIERNO, Juozas OLEKAS, Cristina MAESTRE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2a. Stresses that effectively protecting intellectual property rights must go hand in hand with effectively combating content piracy; considers, furthermore, that this fight must go hand in hand with raising the general public's awareness of the value of intellectual property rights for content creators;

Amendment 24 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3 a. Believes that GIs should be better protected against all practices of commercial misconduct in Union law, including when used as ingredients or in services; highlights the importance to ensure that the reputation of the GIs in question is not weakened by a third party.

Amendment 24 #

Hannes HEIDE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Massimiliano SMERIGLIO

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2 a. Notes that the number of national patent filings is higher than the number of European patent filings in the majority of the Member States; asks the Commission to evaluate if the cost related to the European patent filings and its protection have an impact on this preference, in particular for SMEs;

Amendment 25 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3a. Points out that the reproduction of illegal seeds or plants seriously affects research and farmers finances; Considers that practices of this nature are vehicles for the transmission of new pests and diseases.

Amendment 25 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2 a. Calls for the enhancement of tools available to ensure that innovators from the cultural and creative sectors (CCSs), in particular SME’s, can ensure a fair return on their investments and capitalise on their creations and thus further stimulate innovation;

Amendment 26 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)

3b. Stresses the need to enhance the role of GI producer groups; considers, in this regard, that extending to all agricultural and wine sectors the supply management tools applied to cheeses and hams with protected designation of origin and protected geographical indication, agreed as part of the reform of the common agricultural policy, is an important step towards meeting this objective; calls on the Commission to make additional proposals to enable producer groups to better manage the reputation and marketing of their products and to strengthen their influence in the value chain;

Amendment 26 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Highlights the challenges that SMEs face in acquiring registered IPRs and notes with concern the fragmentation of the European IP system~~, in particular the need for parallel litigations in multiple EU countries; calls for the process~~ which is hindering the development of enterprises, in particular SMEs, in their ability to engage efficiently in the research and innovation process on the basis of a more level playing field with large competitors as well consumer's access to innovative and safe products; calls for the process to address the need for parallel litigations in multiple EU countries, to become more streamlined and straightforward and for SMEs to be equipped with accurate information to facilitate the IPR acquisition process and to be informed of the benefits of IPRs ~~for their commercial competitiveness~~;

Amendment 27 #

Hannes HEIDE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Massimiliano SMERIGLIO

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 c (new)

3c. Supports the Commission’s desire to rationalise and harmonise the rules on GIs, which are currently set out in four European regulations (three regulations following the reform of the common agricultural policy), while stressing the need to maintain a specific, but coherent, framework for wine products and spirits;

Amendment 27 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Highlights the challenges that SMEs face in acquiring IPRs and notes with concern the fragmentation of the European IP system, in particular the need for parallel litigations in multiple EU countries; calls for the process to become more streamlined and straightforward and for SMEs to be equipped with accurate information to facilitate the IPR acquisition process and to be informed of the benefits of IPRs for their commercial competitiveness; stresses the need for concrete measures to improve information and advice, which must be adequately funded and provide a low-threshold service for SMEs;

Amendment 28 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 d (new)

3d. Notes the Commission’s objective of encouraging producers of GI products to market sustainable products in order to meet society’s demands and consumers’ expectations; stresses that, at Parliament’s initiative, a possibility has been introduced, as part of the reform of the common agricultural policy, for producers to include in the specifications, on a voluntary basis, the contribution made by their products to sustainable development; considers that such a possibility should be consolidated in future Commission initiatives;

Amendment 28 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3 a. Stresses the need to ensure equal access to the benefits of IPRs for SMEs, nongovernmental organizations and research and academic institutions; underlines the need for any IPR regulation to enable a level playing field allowing smaller actors to compete; emphasises the importance of free and no-boundary access to content and creations for research and education purposes;

Amendment 29 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 e (new)

3e. Stresses that GIs are, above all, a means of protecting intellectual property and demonstrating authenticity by indicating a product’s origin; calls for future Commission initiatives not to undermine GIs and TSGs directly or indirectly through measures that could be detrimental to them; stresses, in particular, the need to find a balanced solution in terms of nutrition labelling in the context of future initiatives under the farm to fork strategy;

Amendment 29 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Welcomes the Commission’s commitment to support the full and timely transposition of the two copyright framework directives; notes that the Commission is putting special emphasis on the implementation of Article 17 of the Copyright Directive2 and strongly supports its plans for issuing implementation guidelines for Member States; ~~urges Member States to quickly and completely transpose the directives into their national legislation~~regrets, however, that the Commission only published the guidelines three days before the deadline for implementation; condemns that most Member States failed to implement the Copyright Directive on time before the deadline of 7 June 2021; therefore urges Member States to take the Commission's guidance into account and to quickly and completely transpose the directives into their national legislation without any further delay; emphasizes the role the Copyright Directive can play to boost the recovery and resilience of the Cultural and Creative Sectors and make creators come out of the crisis stronger; _________________ 2Directive (EU) 2019/790 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market and amending Directives 96/9/EC and 2001/29/EC, OJ L 130, 17.5.2019, p. 92.

Amendment 3 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Stresses the significant role played by geographical indications (GI) and traditional specialities guaranteed (TSG) in protecting the reputation of the EU food and drink sector in the single market and international markets~~, despite the fact that they only represent 7 % of total EU food and drink sales~~;

Amendment 3 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Recognises the paramount importance of ‘intangible assets’ and intellectual property (IP)-intensive industries in the economic dynamism and cultural sovereignty of the EU; considers these assets essential for the economic recovery and resilience of the EU in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic; underlines the need to protect these by law, allowing creators to benefit from their intellectual property rights (IPRs);

Amendment 30 #

Martina MICHELS, Alexis GEORGOULIS, Niyazi KIZILYÜREK

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Notes the great potential of the online market for GIs and TSGs, but stresses that it can only be achieved if intellectual rights are better protected~~; calls on the Commission to be at the forefront of online protection by including it in~~ on the internet; considers that such online protection requires the protection of GIs to apply to goods sold via e-commerce and for procedures to be made available to GIs to prevent bad faith registration of domain names which undermine the protection of GIs; recalls that Parliament made proposals to this effect as part of the reform of the common agricultural policy and that the Commission undertook to assess the feasibility of strengthening such rules and to make proposals to improve the protection of GIs in order to strengthen online protection in the internal market and on the international market in the context of bilateral and multilateral trade agreements;

Amendment 30 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Welcomes the Commission’s commitment to support the full and timely transposition of the two copyright framework directives; notes that the Commission ~~is putting~~put special emphasis on ~~the~~a fair implementation of Article 17 of the Copyright Directive2~~and strongly supports its plans for issuing~~ regarding the rights of users, rights intermediaries and the cultural industry as well as platforms, in the implementation guidelines for Member States; it recently proposed urges Member States to quickly and completely transpose the dDirectives into their national legislation, using pre-flagging or other means of flagged upload to explain copyright protection, giving users the right to enjoy fundamental rights to freedom of expression, artistic processing, such as parody, pastiche, etc. in a timely manner, while at the same time requiring respect for copyright-protected material; _________________ 2Directive (EU) 2019/790 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market and amending Directives 96/9/EC and 2001/29/EC, OJ L 130, 17.5.2019, p. 92.

Amendment 31 #

Giuseppe FERRANDINO, Paolo DE CASTRO, Clara AGUILERA, Pina PICIERNO, Juozas OLEKAS, Cristina MAESTRE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. NRecalls the growth in importance of online sales during the COVID crisis, when agro-tourism was halted, preventing visits to many direct sellers, and notes the still greater potential of the online market for GIs and TSGs, but stresses that it can only be achieved if intellectual rights are better protected~~; calls on the Commission to be at the forefront of online protection by including it in bilateral and multilateral trade agreements~~, mostly online; points out that the protection of GIs should apply to all goods that are sold through means of electronic commerce and that procedures should be made available to GIs producers to prevent the registrations in bad faith of domain names that undermine GIs protection;

Amendment 31 #

Sabine VERHEYEN, Tomasz FRANKOWSKI, Asim ADEMOV, Peter POLLÁK, Željana ZOVKO, Christian EHLER, Isabel BENJUMEA BENJUMEA, François-Xavier BELLAMY

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Welcomes the Commission’s commitment to support the full and timely transposition of the two copyright framework directives; notes that the ~~Commission is putting special emphasis on the~~ implementation of Article 17 of the Copyright Directive2 should be carried out by Member States without delay, encourages Member States to proceed with the faithful implementation of Article 17 which best reflects the agreement achieved by the co-legislators, and strongly supports its plans for issuing implementation guidelines for Member States; urges Member States to quickly and completely transpose the directives into their national legislation by reflecting the agreement achieved at EU level; _________________ 2Directive (EU) 2019/790 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market and amending Directives 96/9/EC and 2001/29/EC, OJ L 130, 17.5.2019, p. 92.

Amendment 32 #

Irène TOLLERET, Adrián VÁZQUEZ LÁZARA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Notes the great potential of the online market for GIs and TSGs, but stresses that it can only be achieved if intellectual rights are better protected; ~~calls on the Commission~~this requires that the protection of GIs applies to goods that are sold through means of electronic commerce and that procedures are made available to GIs to prevent the registrations in bad faith of domain names that undermine GI protection ; calls on the Commission to table proposals to enhance GIs in order to be at the forefront of online protection ~~by including it~~and to negotiate such a protection in bilateral and multilateral trade agreements;

Amendment 32 #

Hannes HEIDE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Massimiliano SMERIGLIO

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Welcomes the Commission’s commitment to support the full and timely transposition of the two copyright framework directives; considers in particular that these directives can play a key role in the recovery of the culture and media sector; notes that the Commission is putting special emphasis on the implementation of Article 17 of the Copyright Directive2 and strongly supports its plans for issuing implementation guidelines for Member States; urges Member States to quickly and completely transpose the directives into their national legislation and ensure that they are properly implemented; _________________ 2 Directive (EU) 2019/790 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market and amending Directives 96/9/EC and 2001/29/EC, OJ L 130, 17.5.2019, p. 92.

Amendment 33 #

Mara BIZZOTTO, Angelo CIOCCA, Ivan DAVID, Gilles LEBRETON

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Notes the great potential of the online market for GIs and TSGs, but stresses that it can only be achieved if intellectual rights are better protected inside and outside Europe; calls on the Commission and the Member States to be at the forefront of online protection by also including it in bilateral and multilateral trade agreements;

Amendment 33 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

Amendment 34 #

Giuseppe FERRANDINO, Paolo DE CASTRO, Clara AGUILERA, Pina PICIERNO, Juozas OLEKAS, Cristina MAESTRE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4 a. stresses on the necessity of guaranteeing a better protection for GIs and TSGs; calls on the Commission to work at international level, and in particular when negotiating bilateral agreements, to protect the system of GIs as a whole;

Amendment 34 #

Giuseppe FERRANDINO, Paolo DE CASTRO, Clara AGUILERA, Pina PICIERNO, Juozas OLEKAS, Cristina MAESTRE

4 a. Stresses the importance of the overarching principle of fair and proportionate remuneration for authors and performers provided in Article 18 of the 2019 Copyright Directive; recommends Member States to equip audiovisual authors with effective remuneration mechanisms that generate revenues for the exploitation of their works on all media, including online; recommends that the Commission updates the IP chapters of EU trade agreements to include Article 18 of the Copyright Directive to showcase the EU model of authors’ rights which values the IPR of the authors and their right to receive on- going remuneration for the exploitation of their works on all media;

Amendment 35 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)

4 b. Invites the Commission to improve and overall strengthen the IP control system and its enforcement for GIs at EU level and to legally define the concepts of "Agro-Food Fraud and Crime" and "imitation" at EU level, in order to avoid that EU quality production continues to be counterfeited, causing huge economic damage to both EU farmers and economic operators; in this respect, invites the Commission to fully assess the potential of IT tools, such as AI and blockchain;

Amendment 35 #

Sabine VERHEYEN, Tomasz FRANKOWSKI, Asim ADEMOV, Peter POLLÁK, Željana ZOVKO, Christian EHLER, Isabel BENJUMEA BENJUMEA, François-Xavier BELLAMY

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4 a. Underlines the importance of recently adopted Directives (EU) 2019/790 and (EU) 2019/789, for a sound copyright/authors´ rights regime in the EU, invites the Member States to swiftly and faithfully transpose the requirements of those directives into national laws, and urges the Commission to remain a true guarantor of the EU law during the implementation process without deviating from the word and spirit of these crucial legislation for European creators and creative industries.

Amendment 36 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Considers it essential to ~~protect~~design intellectual property rights ~~to promot~~in a way that promotes sustainable innovation, in particular with the aim of introducing more resilient agricultural varieties to cope with climate change ~~and achieve the objectives of the European Green Deal;~~, achieve a sustainable and agro-ecological farming model protective of natural resources, and achieve the objectives of the European Green Deal; highlights also the potential of non- protected reproductive material, like heterogeneous material and non- registered varieties, for better adapting crops to local soil and climatic conditions and to meet the growing needs of varieties adapted to organic farming, and calls on the Commission to give them a more solid legal status in the framework of the upcoming revision of the seed legislation:

Amendment 36 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4 a. Welcomes the proposal outlined in the Intellectual Property Action Plan to establish an EU Toolbox against counterfeiting; expresses its disappointment that the same level of attention is not given to other forms of IPR infringement, including copyright infringement; encourages the development of a dedicated Toolbox against copyright infringement, based on industry good practices and fully integrated with the DSA;

Amendment 37 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Considers it essential to protect intellectual property rights to promote innovation, in particular with the aim of introducing more resilient agricultural varieties to cope with climate change and achieve the ~~objectives of the European Green Deal;~~sustainable development goals (SDG) and the objectives of the European Green Deal; Points out that intellectual property rights must ensure food security and the resilience and competitiveness of our agri-food model.

Amendment 37 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4 a. Stresses the need to establish appropriate and proportionate remuneration mechanism for content creators and the exploitation of their work across the EU; underlines the importance of specific actions and support for digital content creators;

Amendment 38 #

Sabine VERHEYEN, Tomasz FRANKOWSKI, Asim ADEMOV, Peter POLLÁK, Željana ZOVKO, Christian EHLER, Isabel BENJUMEA BENJUMEA, François-Xavier BELLAMY

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Considers it essential to protect intellectual property rights to promote innovation, in particular with the aim of introducing more resilient agricultural varieties to cope with climate change and achieve the objectives of the European Green Deal; stresses that protection of such plant varieties requires a strong and enforceable plant variety protection system in the EU;

Amendment 38 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)

4 b. Emphasises that territorial and exclusive licensing of rights are essential for the audiovisual sector in order to guarantee its creativity,financing and sustainability, but also to ensure that European consumers have access to culturally diverse content and a pluralistic media, recalls the European Commission’s own research, which shows that 83% of users never even tried to access content not intended for them, only 9% of consumers tried to access audiovisual content and only about only half of those were blocked (ie. only 4.5% of users affected), the main reason for not trying to cross-border access were lack of interest or the belief that the choice of content is sufficient in their own country;

Amendment 39 #

Mara BIZZOTTO, Angelo CIOCCA, Ivan DAVID, Gilles LEBRETON

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Considers it essential to protect intellectual property rights to promote innovation, in particular with the aim of introducing more resilient agricultural varieties ~~to cope with climate change and achieve the objectives of the European Green Deal~~;

Amendment 39 #

Sabine VERHEYEN, Tomasz FRANKOWSKI, Asim ADEMOV, Peter POLLÁK, Željana ZOVKO, Christian EHLER, Isabel BENJUMEA BENJUMEA, François-Xavier BELLAMY

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Highlights the ongoing problems faced by creators, artists, producers and cultural sector workers with regard to copyright and related rights~~; notes with great concern that they~~, especially in light of rampant online piracy; notes with great concern a 2019 study by the EU IPO 1a shows losses caused by piracy of illegal streaming of content might lead to lost jobs in the creative industries and significant loss of public revenues, notes that some creators, artists, producers and cultural sector workers continue to be pressured into unfavourable contracts, sometimes giving up the rights to their intellectual property without receiving just remuneration for their creative work; stresses that Member States must ensure that sufficient protection is put in place to prevent loss of IPRs by authors, creators, producers and cultural sector workers across the EU.; urges the European Commission to acknowledge the need of regulatory intervention to ensure that rightholders are able to protect their property rights online and enforce them effectively, including by measures having cross border effect, in line with Article 17 CFR and ensuring that “what is illegal offline, is illegal online” becomes a reality; _________________ 1ahttps://euipo.europa.eu/tunnel- web/secure/webdav/guest/document_libra ry/observatory/docs/2019_Status_Report_ on_IPR_infringement/2019_Status_Repor t_on_IPR_infringement_en.pdf

Amendment 4 #

Giuseppe FERRANDINO, Paolo DE CASTRO, Clara AGUILERA, Pina PICIERNO, Juozas OLEKAS, Cristina MAESTRE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Stresses the significant role played by geographical indications (GI) and traditional specialities guaranteed (TSG) in enhancing consumer trust in keyparts of the food chain, thereby protecting the reputation of the EU food and drink sector in the single market and international markets~~, despite the fact that they only represent 7 % of total EU food and drink sales;~~.

Amendment 4 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Recognises the paramount importance of ‘intangible assets’ and intellectual property (IP)-intensive industries in the economic recovery and resilience of the EU in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic; underlines the need to protect these by law, allowing ~~creator~~authors, performers and all creators of cultural works to benefit from their intellectual property rights (IPRs);

Amendment 40 #

Martina MICHELS, Niyazi KIZILYÜREK, Alexis GEORGOULIS

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Considers it essential to protect intellectual property rights to promote research and innovation, in particular with the aim of introducing more resilient agricultural varieties to cope with climate change and achieve the objectives of the European Green Deal;

Amendment 40 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Highlights the ongoing problems faced by creators, artists and cultural sector workers with regard to copyright and related rights; notes with great concern that they continue to be pressured into unfavourable contracts, ~~giving up the~~so that the publishing rights to their intellectual property ~~withou~~are not represented in a durable manner and they therefore frequently do not receiv~~ing~~e just remuneration for their creative work; stresses that Member States must ensure that sufficient protection is put in place to prevent loss of IPRs by authors and cultural sector workers across the EU.; calls, therefore, on the Member States to strengthen, in particular, the membership and contractual position of authors and creators vis-à-vis their collecting societies and commercial rights intermediaries, such as the film and music industry and publishers, as laid down in Articles 18-20 of the Copyright Directive in the provisions on the fair drafting of copyright contract law, by means of transparency requirements, the bestseller clause and other contractual provisions and dispute resolution mechanisms, ensuring insight into contractual provisions with large platforms and fair remuneration for authors;

Amendment 41 #

Giuseppe FERRANDINO, Paolo DE CASTRO, Clara AGUILERA, Pina PICIERNO, Juozas OLEKAS, Cristina MAESTRE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Considers it essential to protect intellectual property rights to, by promote ing innovation, in particular with the aim of introducing more resilient agricultural varieties to cope with climate change and help to achieve the objectives of the European Green Deal;

Amendment 41 #

Hannes HEIDE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Massimiliano SMERIGLIO

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Highlights the ongoing problems faced by creators, artists, producers and cultural sector workers with regard to copyright and related rights; notes with great concern that they continue to be pressured into unfavourable contracts, giving up the rights to their intellectual property without receiving just remuneration for their creative work; points out, that a EUIPO study published in 2019 shows losses caused by piracy of illegal streaming of content might lead to lost jobs in the cultural and creative sectors and significant loss of public revenues and that providers of copyright- infringing IPTV subscriptions are estimated to have generated EUR 941.7 million of annual unlawful revenue in 2018; stresses that Member States must ensure that sufficient protection is put in place to prevent loss of IPRs by authors, creators, artists, producers and cultural sector workers across the EU. 5a. _________________ 5ahttps://euipo.europa.eu/tunnel- web/secure/webdav/guest/document_libra ry/observatory/documents/reports/2019_Il legal_IPTV_in_the_European_Union/201 9_Illegal_IPTV_in_the_European_Union _Full_en.pdf

Amendment 42 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5 a. Underlines the importance of the Community plant variety rights (CPVR) system to ensure breeders can continue the development of new varieties for sustainable food production and horticulture, thereby benefiting breeders, growers, farmers, consumers and society at large;

Amendment 42 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

Amendment 43 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)

5 b. Welcomes the inclusion of the CPVR system in the action plan in order to improve the protection of the plant variety rights, to ensure the effectiveness of the system in the future and its proper application;

Amendment 43 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5a. Recalls the importance of traditional handicraft and industrial products for Europe's cultural identity and know-how; underlines the crucial role of handicraft and agricultural micro- enterprises and SMEs for the economic fabric of Europe's regions, particularly rural areas, and their added value for cultural tourism; notes that these products urgently need legal protection at the European level in order to combat counterfeiting and unfair competition; underlines the positive impact that a sui generis European protection of these products would have on small enterprises, employment, training and the attractiveness of Europe's territories, while allowing local handicraft and industrial production circuits to be developed and strengthened; calls on the European Commission to propose a European protection system for non- agricultural geographical indications, based on the model of protection for agricultural geographical indications, by the end of 2021;

Amendment 44 #

Hannes HEIDE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Massimiliano SMERIGLIO

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 c (new)

5 c. Underlines that the strength of the plant variety rights system is the balanced way in which it protects the breeders’ work, while at the same time ensuring through the breeder’s exemption that others may freely use the protected variety to create another new variety and market it;

Amendment 44 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5 a. Regrets the significant use of the Internet for the distribution of pirated content and IPR-infringing services and welcomes the proposal of the Commission for a Digital Services Act on the basis of the principle that "what is illegal offline is illegal online" and to establish a robust framework to counter those IPR infringements, with an immediately take down following a notice and action procedure, to avoid reappearance of pirated content; highlights the fact that proactive measures from intermediaries would contribute enormously to the fight against piracy and that AI and blockchain could play an important role in detecting piracy and enforcing IPR; supports, therefore, the use of new technologies to combat IP infringements, and welcomes publications produced by the EUIPO Observatory;

Amendment 45 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6

6. Insists, however, that intellectual property rights should not lead to a reduction in the diversity of species and varieties and a loss of independence for farmers; ~~also insists that farmers must remain the owners of their seeds and breeding material.~~ highlights in that regard the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas, and notably its article 19 on the right to seed; notes that patents have been linked to overconcentration of markets, notably in the seed sector in countries where they are predominantly used, leading to quasi-monopoles and higher prices for some crop species; also insists that farmers must remain the owners of their seeds and breeding material; in consequence, calls on the Commission to propose a change to Regulation (EC) No2100/94 in order to extend to all crops the so called farmers’ privilege in its article 14 (1); recalls that Directive 98/44/EC explicitly excludes from patentability animals and plant varieties obtained through essentially biological processes and remains vigilant concerning the strict implementation of this principle by the European Patent Office; points out that this ban includes conventional techniques for the breeding of plants and animals and the products obtained by these conventional techniques, as well as all plants and animals of the public domain, which constitute a common heritage for all;

Amendment 45 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5 a. Emphasises that the COVID-19 crisis threatened the livelihood of all workers in the cultural and creative sectors; observes that for many authors, performers and cultural workers the digital marketplace was the only tool for generating income during the lockdown; notes with concern that the biggest winners of the digital culture growth were not the creators but the distributors; highlights, therefore, that a robust and fair remuneration for author’s and adjacent rights is essential and Member States must reinforce their IPR framework to protect creators and performers;

Amendment 46 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6

6. Insists, however, that intellectual property rights should not lead to a reduction in the diversity of species and varieties and a loss of independence for farmers; also insists that farmers must remain the owners of their seeds and breeding material. Underlines that the plant variety rights system includes the appropriate conditions and safeguards for farmers’ independence and therefore shall remain the sole system for protection of plant varieties, plants and plant traits in plant breeding.

Amendment 46 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5 a. Highlights the ongoing challenges faced by those who learn and teach or do research due to the emergency closure of the physical premises of educational establishments, research organizations, libraries and archives; notes with great concern the lack of cross-border rules covering distance learning and other remote activities carried out outside the Union, under the responsibility of institutions established in the European Union; urges the Member States to address this issue at the international level;

Amendment 47 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6

6. Insists, however, that intellectual property rights should not lead to a reduction in the diversity of species and varieties and a loss of independence for farmers; also insists that farmers must remain the owners of their seeds and breeding material. in accordance with the system of plant variety rights provided for in the UPOV Convention and Council Regulation 2100/94

Amendment 47 #

Irène TOLLERET, Adrián VÁZQUEZ LÁZARA, Alin MITUȚA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5a. Emphasises in particular the opportunities offered by the main non- European video-on-demand platforms for European content creators and producers; notes with concern, however, the 'work to order' system employed by these companies, which acquire intellectual property rights in exchange for a one-off payment and are the only ones to benefit from the exploitation of the work; calls on the Commission to follow up on this practice;

Amendment 48 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6

Amendment 48 #

Martina MICHELS, Niyazi KIZILYÜREK, Alexis GEORGOULIS

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5a. Recognises, particularly in light of the experience of the pandemic, that major cultural and media productions can only come to be if, in addition to the creative talent, the many requisite technical and intermediary services are available, ranging from assistance to the director through to catering, from lighting through to production coordination, and which are not paid for through licence sales, but are often indirectly dependent on creators having good contracts;

Amendment 49 #

Sabine VERHEYEN, Tomasz FRANKOWSKI, Asim ADEMOV, Peter POLLÁK, Željana ZOVKO, Christian EHLER, Isabel BENJUMEA BENJUMEA, François-Xavier BELLAMY

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6a. Points out that the current intellectual property model in agriculture has worked well; stresses that the coexistence of patents with the plant variety rights protection model has been positive for the implementation of innovative solutions in agriculture; invites the Commission and the Member States to protect the innovative capacity of the sector and the general interest in a way that ensures effective access to and use of plant reproductive material so as not to interfere with practices that guarantee farmers' rights and the plant breeders' exemption.

Amendment 49 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5 a. Notes with great concern that so- called buy-out and work for hire contracts are imposed on European creators through application of non-EU laws to such contracts, despite the provisions of national and EU laws discouraging them; Asks the European Commission to throughoutly investigate such practices of global streaming platforms and their impact on the remuneration of creators based on copyright/authors’ rights;

Amendment 5 #

Hannes HEIDE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Massimiliano SMERIGLIO

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1a. Having regard to its resolution of 19 September 2019 on the patentability of plants and essential biological processes

Amendment 5 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

Amendment 50 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6a. Welcomes the fact that, as part of the ‘Action Plan on Intellectual Property to strengthen the EU’s economic resilience and recovery’, the Commission wishes to explore the feasibility of a GI protection system for non-agricultural products at EU level; considers that such an initiative would enable European operators to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by the international system of the Geneva Act for the international registration of appellations of origin and geographical indications, managed by the World Intellectual Property Organisation.

Amendment 50 #

Irène TOLLERET, Adrián VÁZQUEZ LÁZARA, Alin MITUȚA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5 a. Supports the creation of an European digital platform focussed on copyright and intellectual property rights offering assistance and guidance to creators in the fields of culture, media and education, in order to enable them to take advantage of the full opportunities available at European level; calls for specific educational and information action designed to help guide young creators;

Amendment 51 #

6 a. Welcomes the intention of the European Commission to work with international partners to protect GI's worldwide through the WIPO multilateral Lisbon Registry and to step up its participation in global internet fora so that the international domain name system (DNS) fully respects IPRs, including GI's.

Amendment 51 #

Sabine VERHEYEN, Tomasz FRANKOWSKI, Asim ADEMOV, Peter POLLÁK, Željana ZOVKO, Christian EHLER, Isabel BENJUMEA BENJUMEA, François-Xavier BELLAMY

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)

5 b. Invites the European Commission to look into the impact of non-EU based VOD platforms on the European creation, in particular on their relationships with the European creators of musical and audio-visual works; notes with concern that creators are totally deprived of their copyright/authors’ rights when they are imposed to accept buy-out contracts;

Amendment 52 #

Giuseppe FERRANDINO, Paolo DE CASTRO, Clara AGUILERA, Pina PICIERNO, Juozas OLEKAS, Cristina MAESTRE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6 a. Stresses that varieties obtained through sustainable biotechnologies, should only be protected under the Community Plant Variety Right and not under the patent law, since these varieties cannot be distinguished from other existing ones.

Amendment 52 #

5 b. Emphasises the role of intellectual property as a ‘key driver of economic growth’; calls for IP to act as a cornerstone in the EU’s future, promoting a global ‘level playing field’, protect against IP theft, ensure the EU’s technological sovereignty, and to facilitate the ‘green and digital transformations’ of Europe.

Amendment 53 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6 a. Opposes any patenting of live animals;

Amendment 53 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)

5 b. Underlines the key role that the recovery and resilience mechanism could play in addressing the challenges and providing adequate reforms related to the copyright and intellectual property rights domain;

Amendment 54 #

Sabine VERHEYEN, Tomasz FRANKOWSKI, Asim ADEMOV, Peter POLLÁK, Željana ZOVKO, Christian EHLER, Isabel BENJUMEA BENJUMEA, François-Xavier BELLAMY

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)

6b. Notes that, in the context of the stakeholder consultation on the initial impact assessment carried out by the Commission with a view to establishing a system of GI protection for non- agricultural products, there was broad support for such a European initiative, highlighting the potential benefits for the products concerned in terms of international trade, transparency and identification of origin for consumers and economic development for SMEs and Europe’s rural areas;

Amendment 54 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 c (new)

5 c. Recognises that online piracy leads to considerable economic losses to the European creative sector, which ultimately results in less investment in creative and journalistic content and sports to the detriment of cultural diversity and ultimately the European consumer, encourages the European Commission to act by introducing robust legislative instruments within the framework of the DSA or through a separate dedicated instrument acquiring content creators with the necessary tools to fight online piracy by providing the possibility of issuing dynamic injunctions (catalogue or repertoire-wide) , a strong Know Your Business Costumer principle applicable to all hosting services, immediate and efficient takedown upon the notice of receipt of a trusted flagger, and proper enforcement of stay down obligations for illegal content;

Amendment 55 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)

6 b. Highlights the importance of respecting the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization while designing intellectual property legislation for plants and animals, including for their genetic description and for gene banks, so that natural and collectively bred genetic resources are not appropriated by private actors;

Amendment 55 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 c (new)

5 c. Welcomes the Commission’s commitment to seeking strong IP protection in future Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and for full implementation in existing ones; regrets, however, that the current template for IPR in such agreements is not reflective of the protection afforded by European rules; reminds the Commission that FTA signatories interpret IPR differently than the EU and that the largest threat for intellectual property comes from outside the Union; urges the Commission to introduce higher standards into its FTA template for IPR in order to strengthen the protection for European authors;

Amendment 56 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)

6b. Recognises that the processes of breeding through crossing and selection, as well as the resulting biological material, should not be patentable.

Amendment 56 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 c (new)

5 c. Calls for specific actions designed to ensure access by all EU citizens and countries to quality content in the fields of education, culture and media; underlines the need for EU financial support in providing access to content in all EU languages;

Amendment 57 #

Sabine VERHEYEN, Tomasz FRANKOWSKI, Asim ADEMOV, Peter POLLÁK, Željana ZOVKO, Christian EHLER, Isabel BENJUMEA BENJUMEA, François-Xavier BELLAMY

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 c (new)

6 c. Points out that data on agriculture and farmland is of public interest but that farmers’ ownership, access to and control of their own farm data must be protected; notes that big data platforms in the agricultural sector are owned by a few large corporations, which enables them to have control over the market and a competitive advantage; highlights that small farmers are having to buy from these large corporations data that concerns their own farms if they want access to it, which poses risks to the privacy, profitability and independence of farmers, and to food security and sovereignty;

Amendment 57 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 d (new)

5 d. Recognises in light with the Council conclusions "Recovery and transformation of Europe’s media and with the Council conclusions on safeguarding a free and pluralistic media system" that territorial exclusivity is crucial for a significant part of the creative sector in order to guarantee its creativity, financing and sustainability as well as development of existing and new business models, and emphasised that legal and business certainty and regulatory consistency are absolutely essential to safeguard the rich cultural diversity of the Union and to ensure that content creators which rely on territorial exclusivity are able to thrive and continue reinvesting in quality content;

Amendment 58 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 c (new)

6c. Stresses that further efforts should be made to increase transparency with respect to the status and patentability of biological material; Points out that breeders should be provided with adequate access to information on the biological material they will use in the plant breeding process; Stresses that the Commission should implement new methods for effective consultation and exchange of information.

Amendment 58 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 d (new)

5 d. Highlights the crucial role that IP plays in Europe’s digital transformation; emphasises that innovation should go hand in hand with creativity and digitisation, with the pandemic highlighting the necessity of the emergence of critical new technologies, notably in the health sector; notes the necessity of ensuring a system is in place to protect European businesses from cyber attacks and the resulting loss of trade secrets;

Amendment 59 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 d (new)

6 d. Calls on the Commission to ensure that data collected or created with help of public funds stay public and are not appropriated by private companies;

Amendment 6 #

Sabine VERHEYEN, Tomasz FRANKOWSKI, Asim ADEMOV, Peter POLLÁK, Željana ZOVKO, Christian EHLER, Isabel BENJUMEA BENJUMEA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)

1b. Whereas the system of plant variety rights enshrined in the UPOV Convention and Council Regulation 2100/94 does not allow the holder of a plant variety right to prevent others from using the protected plant variety for the purpose of further breeding activities

Amendment 6 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

Amendment 7 #

Martina MICHELS, Niyazi KIZILYÜREK

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)

1c. Welcomes the presentation of the new Intellectual Property Plan and recognises the need to foster research and innovation in the agri-food sector

Amendment 7 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1 a. Recognises that the IP Action Plan ensures access to education, knowledge, information and culture, alongside proposed arrangements for dealing with critical intellectual property from patents, e.g. for use in public health protection, as well as relevant parts of the cultural, educational, media and higher education sector1as. Within the EU Copyright Directive, the use of copyright-relevant material by institutional users, such as educational institutions, research institutions, cultural heritage institutions, is regulated through copyright limitations. Other directives1b provide for exceptions such as those required for the implementation of the Marrakesh Treaty to ensure inclusion. The part of the cultural and media sector, which is often specifically European, not- for-profit and public service, should equally be protected more proactively and in a more sustainable manner in international trade agreements, along the lines of the UNESCO Convention on Culture, which firmly establishes the dual nature of cultural and media productions as goods and carriers of identities and values1c; _________________ 1a see Article 6 of the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, 2001 1bDirective (EU) 2017/1564 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 September 2017 on certain permitted uses of certain works and other subject matter protected by copyright and related rights for the benefit of persons who are blind, visually impaired or otherwise print-disabled and amending Directive 2001/29/EC on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society 1c see Article 8 of the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, 2001

Amendment 8 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 d (new)

1d. Recognises that incentives are essential for seed and plant variety innovation in order to meet the demands of farmers and consumers.

Amendment 8 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1 a. Recalls that everyone has the right to participate freely in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits; highlights in this spirit the importance of accessibility, irrespective of socio-economic backgrounds and circumstances, of cultural works also in the digital era in order to preserve user rights and the public domain;

Amendment 9 #