EU lawmaker Andrea Wechsler is hopeful that Germany’s new right-wing government will facilitate more chances for companies to commercially exploit intellectual property rights, particularly in new areas such as artificial intelligence and biotechnology. Wechsler’s political party, which will lead Germany after Sunday's election, promises to boost innovation and support its automotive sector.
As Germany prepares for its new government, EU lawmaker Andrea Wechsler hopes the conservative Christian Democratic Union will usher in an era of stronger intellectual property rights.Wechsler's party won Sunday's election in partnership with the Christian Social Union in the southern region of Bavaria with 208 seats in the 630-seat parliament. Its leader, Friedrich Merz, will most likely become Germany's next chancellor.
While IP hasn't played a prominent role in the campaign, it will help the center-right bloc achieve parts of its agenda regarding economic potential, research and innovation.
"It's important to foster our own intellectual property and to support intellectual property that's being developed in the European Union," Wechsler, a member of the European Parliament, told MLex in an interview, which took place before the election.
Germany represents a key hub for IP within Europe, with a dynamic legal system that has fostered a reputation for favoring patent holders.
In the EU's new Unified Patent Court, litigating companies continue to flock to court divisions in Germany more than in any other participating country.
Regarding Germany’s new government, Wechsler said it will now need to focus on providing companies with more opportunities for the commercial exploitation of intellectual property developed in the EU.
The composition of the new government will be determined in the coming weeks. Merz has his choice of coalition partners. The far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, secured second place with 152 seats, but is considered too right-wing to be a part of a government. A more likely alliance would be with the Social Democratic Party, or SPD, which led the previous government, and won 120 seats at yesterday's vote. The Greens finished fourth with 85 seats.
— Competitiveness —
Wechsler, a politician and an academic with a background in IP law, was elected to the EU's legislature last year. She hopes to see IP become more prominent in discussions about boosting competitiveness and sovereignty.
Her comments follow a series of reports highlighting Europe's struggles with global competitiveness, including those published last year by economists Mario Draghi and Enrico Letta, both of whom are former Italian prime ministers.
A separate EU report on boosting competitiveness outlines that only a third of patents are commercially exploited, causing the bloc to lose ground to the US and China (see here).
"Intellectual property rights are basically the investment security that companies need in order to invest in new technologies," Wechsler said.
— Artificial intelligence —
Germany and the EU should aim for “technological diversification,” Wechsler added, citing biotechnology and AI.
"Germany and Europe must look into the patentability of artificial intelligence," she said, noting China’s patenting strategies for AI.
The CDU’s campaign platform manifesto lists sovereign AI as a key element of "re-industrialization."
However, Wechsler warned that the European market remains restricted by its regulatory approach, while also facing concerns over "infringements happening through the use of artificial intelligence."
Copyright holders, in particular, have sounded alarms over generative AI platforms using unlicensed content to train their models.
"I hope that our new German government will be a very strong discussion partner when it comes to solving this issue with a joint European approach," she said.
The CDU also promises to support its prominent car-manufacturing industry with policies to develop electric vehicles and to advance digital progress.
"The European Union needs to go hand-in-hand with a very strategic economic policy of fostering ecosystems in battery technology, storage facilities and other areas that support the transformation of the automotive sector," Wechsler said.
Intellectual property remains an important tool to help Germany achieve its policy objectives for the economy and industry, Wechsler said. "The balance between competition and innovation centers on intellectual property law."
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