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Whilst the nation was weighing the pros and cons of joining the EU, ACCESS Euro Consulting was commissioned to submit to the then Ministry of Economic Services, ongoing analyses of the pros and cons of joining the EPC (European Patent Convention), and the PTC (Patent Co-operation Treaty). The analyses were duly put on the MIC web site,1 and remain officially uncontested to this day. This is quite inappropriate, because the said analyses are riddled with logical defects.
ACCESS Euro Consulting’s ‘Full report’ ends with the recommendation that “Malta should postpone the ratification of EPC / PCT to the latest possible date”, because the “disadvantages objectively appear to outweigh the advantages.” 2
Let us weigh together the advantages against the disadvantages, to see if ratification of EPC / PCT is worthwhile or not, to our nation. ACCESS Euro Consulting is superficially aware of the principal advantages of ratification, and has alighted upon them slightly, in their reports to the Ministry of Economic Services, as hereby quoted :
i) “encourages innovation”, and “protects companies which invest in R & D (Research and Development)
ii) “promote technological progress” 4
iii) “make it easier and cheaper for inventors to file for patent protection in a large number of territories” 5
In a nutshell, EPC and PCT ratification creates a clear incentive which stimulates industry into improving its product, and consequently, innovate. The incentive, which ACCESS Euro Consulting never properly spells out, is that through the PCT and EPC patent system, one can secure much more easily an international monopoly over the trading of innovative consumer products. This is how industry is encouraged to improve and innovate its product, by allowing them to qualify for a monopoly of global proportions, and letting them collect the resultant financial proceeds from such a trade. It represents a mammoth aspect of profit which the Maltese industry has not only not moved into, but shall likely remain idling at the sidelines, held back by our government’s reluctance to ratify the EPC and PCT.
Let us now turn to consider the disadvantages. ACCESS Euro Consulting, has summed up the advantages against the disadvantages, no less than three times in their analyses.6
On each such occasion, ACCESS Euro Consulting consistently gave two clusters of advantages, and one single disadvantage, namely, “that there may well be a negative impact on local companies manufacturing or importing products, which are copies of products patented in other countries.” But are there any such local companies engaged in the trade of counterfeits of products protected by foreign patents?
At first, ACCESS Euro Consulting stated “that probably there are not any yet”.7 But then, in their ‘Further Study’, they went on to say that “No one admitted to this, and the Chamber of Commerce and Federation of Industry were unable to help us locate businesses involved in counterfeiting, but a walk down the Merchant Street market clearly reveals that there [are] a lot of counterfeit products on the market.” 8 ! So we are going to make it extremely difficult for our Maltese born industrialists from acquiring important international patent monopolies, just so some dodgy types could trade in counterfeit products down at the market in Merchant Street! Come on, ACCESS Euro Consulting!
ACCESS Euro Consulting also stated that our country should delay ratification of EPC/PCT, “particularly because Malta does not appear to have a competitive advantage in innovation.” 9 Now how do you expect our locally owned industries, to have a competitive advantage in innovation, whilst simultaneously depriving them of the mightiest incentive to innovate that there is in our world, namely the PCT and EPC system? The contradiction smacks.
Joseph Gatt
Pieta
1 http://www.mic.org.mt/Malta-EU/studies/studies_mes.htm
2 “Full report”, page 55, chapter 11
3 “Executive summary” document (by ACCESS Euro Consulting), page 1
4 “Full report” document (by ACCESS Euro Consulting), page 4, section 2.1
5 “Further study” document (by ACCESS Euro Consulting), page 2, section 2.1
6 “Executive summary”, page 2 ; as well as in “Full report”, page 8 section 3.3,
and page 14 section 4.3
7 “Full report”, page 5, section 2.4
8 “Further study”, page 3, section 3.1
9 “Full report”, page 55, chapter 11
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