Unitary European Patent

The European
Union (EU) Parliament is close to approving new regulations for a single patent
covering 25 states of the EU.  Under these
regulations, patents granted by the European Patent Office can cover, and be
enforceable in, 25 countries of the EU as a single entity.  The patentee will be able to choose if the
granted patent becomes individual patents in one or more of those 25 countries,
or the unitary patent covering all 25.  There will be no requirement for the patentee to translate the patent.

Italy
and Spain have each launched legal challenges, at the Court of Justice of the
European Union (CJEU), against these proposals.  However, although these challenges will slow progress, political pressure
means that the unitary European patent will become a reality in the near
future.

The EU
has set a target date of 1 January 2014 for the unitary patent system to come
into force.

Pan-European
patent litigation system

Currently, European patents are a bundle of national
patents, enforced nationally.  For some time the goal of the EU has been central
enforcement of European patent rights.  The EU has agreed that the unitary
European patent will come into force alongside a system of central enforcement
of patent rights in Europe.

The European Commission is putting in place a court, the EU Unified Patent Court (UPC), which will have exclusive jurisdiction over enforcement
of both the proposed unitary European patents and national patents
granted by the EPO.  The proposed court will be set up by agreement between the
25 member states.

The UPC will initially have three centres:  Paris, London and Munich.  London will
have jurisdiction over litigation of patents relating to chemistry and the life
sciences, including pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and medical devices, Munich
will have jurisdiction over litigation of patents relating to mechanical
engineering and Paris will take the remaining technologies.  There will be an Appeal Court in Luxembourg.

The London cluster is a significant boost
for the UK, and UK litigants will have easy access to Paris which is only a
short train ride away.  Forresters has a strong presence in the other two key
locations, with offices in both London and Munich.

The EU has yet to decide the exact
relationship between the courts.  This
will become clearer as the courts are set up.

The proposed structure would provide a new
system of patent litigation in the EU by 1 April 2014.

We will keep you updated on the progress of both
proposals.

This article was reprinted with permission from Forresters life sciences newsletter.