David Sant returned to London in 2005 and now works in a London firm of patent attorneys, where his main interests are patents in telecommunications and software, as well as patent portfolio management and commercialisation services.

He explains that there is a pressing need in Europe to harmonise national patent rulings and to ensure legal certainty. The acrimonious debate over the proposed directive on computer-implemented inventions might never have arisen if the patent litigation system in Europe had been unified, thereby eliminating the possibility of disparate national rulings on the same patent matter. In addition, industry seeks an affordable and efficient litigation system, which the EPLA would provide, thus allowing European industry to innovate in a legal environment similar to those enjoyed in the USA and Japan.

Now event the EPO agrees that EPLA is the next attempt to get software patents validated in Europe.