That Europe needs a common patent is patently obvious to Michael Setton, who runs a tiny technology firm in France making wireless sensors that track environmental and biomedical data, the Reuters reported.

Yet he and thousands of other inventors are still waiting to hear when they will finally be able to protect their inventions across the region at one go, cutting costs dramatically.

For now, Setton has given up and skipped the European market by going directly to the United States because his company, Sensaris, which has a staff of just five, cannot afford the expense of getting patents in each individual European country. Two months ago, it seemed the issue had been fixed.

Even as Europe's single currency system teetered, European Union leaders hailed an agreement, after more than 30 years of wrangling, to launch another pan-European project - a common patent and a single court in which to defend property rights.

But the June deal has been delayed by the European Parliament, whose members are angry at the exclusion of the European Court of Justice from the patent litigation process. Benoit Battistelli, president of the Munich-based European Patent Office (EPO), which will administer the new unitary patent, is confident there will eventually be an accord.

"I don't think so many years of discussion could fall down on such an issue, and I'm convinced there is room to find a solution that is good for everybody," he said in an interview.

"We have never been closer to a final decision, but the last few meters can be the most difficult."
A spokesman for the European Commission said the EU's executive was "working hard to reach a solution by the autumn".