The government has backed controversial plans to set up a single patent court for Europe. Lady Wilcox, minister at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, told a Lords committee this week that, even after 40 years of failed negotiations, the way forward for business efficiency in Europe remains a single patent law administered by a single court.

Wilcox said the ‘disunited states of Europe’ are falling behind in the race to develop and protect innovative technologies. The solution is a ‘unified patent court’ that will save money for business and bring growth to the European economy, she told the Lords EU subcommittee on justice and institutions.

She said: ‘The US has one patent court and so does China. Everyone understands what is going on and it is inexpensive. We need a similar system in Europe so that everyone sings from the same hymn sheet.’

A committee member questioned whether there was a ‘political sniff of a mess’ around the court and suggested it would be easier to work within the present system of ‘bundled patents’, with separate provisions for each member state.

Wilcox replied that the growth in technology had prompted ‘more and more need for patents’ and that a unified patent court would give a single judgment across Europe, rather than, as with ‘bundled patents’, an individual judgment for each member state, ‘which experience shows, causes delays and uncertainties’.