EU agrees single patent court

The new EU patent court will be located in Paris, London and Munich.

Paris will host the headquarters of the central division, with subdivisions in London for pharmaceuticals and life sciences, and in Munich for engineering.

Plans for a new unitary patent system—under which a single patent will be valid in 25 EU member states—have been under discussion for more than a decade. One point of contention was where the central divisional court would be located. EU leaders finally reached agreement at a European Council meeting last week.

Prime Minister David Cameron says the court will bring “millions of pounds and hundreds of jobs” to Britain.

However, Keith Hodkinson, chairman of Marks & Clerk International, says the agreement does not represent “a final agreement on the Unitary Patent Court or a victory for the UK government”.

“While the location of the court is certainly of economic significance, and the decision to locate at least certain specialist work in London is of course welcome, the chief concern for the professions and industry has always been the fundamental flaws in the regime, rather than the issue of where cases are heard.”

He says it is unclear what will replace controversial provisions governing the role of the European Court of Justice, which the Council has agreed to delete, or whether these can be deleted at all.

“It is also unclear what will happen to the issue of bifurcation (splitting infringement and invalidity issues into separate proceedings),” he says.

A McDermott Will & Emery spokesperson says: “Some controversial aspects remain. The system allows the application of different approaches on bifurcation, which creates uncertainty and which some claim will encourage a wave of actions to be brought in Europe by non-practising entities. Certainly the complexities of the system will be a playground for strategists.

“In addition, the new court and the EU Patent will fall under the umbrella of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU). Critics argue that the non-specialist judges of the CJEU and the long delays in hearing cases there could threaten the effectiveness of the regime.”