After initial declarations of the government of prime minister Theresa May that the Brexit would not change its position regarding the Unitary Patent system, it was Boris Johnson who pulled the plug in 2020. Just when it seemed all hurdles were out of the way, the UK – paramount in the creation of the UP system – voted to leave the European Union on 26 June 2016. Italy only fully joined after the CJEU had rejected two challenges (in 20) of the new system.Ĭonstitutional complaints filed in Germany severely delayed the start of the UP system It objected and objects to the language regime for the Unitary Patent, which doesn’t include Spanish as official language. In the meantime, the EU regulations 012 about enhanced cooperation for a unitary patent had entered into force in January 2013.Īlthough Poland was involved in the process up to 2013, in the end it didn’t join the Unitary Patent project out of concern it would harm its economy. The agreement would also affect the powers of the Court to reply, by preliminary ruling, to questions referred by those national courts.” ( Opinion 1/09 )Īfter this ruling it was decided to set up the Unified Patent Court Agreement (UPCA) outside the EU framework, but open to EU members only. Negotiations about the Unitary Patent system came off the ground after the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU), as requested by the European Council, had concluded in 2011 that setting up a court with exclusive jurisdiction for both European patents granted by the EPO and EU patents with unitary effect was incompatible with EU law, as it “would deprive courts of Member States of their powers in relation to the interpretation and application of European Union law. The new Unified Patent Court is the only competent court in case of conflicts. The Unitary Patent is something else, once granted it will be valid in every UP member state and has to be maintained by yearly payments of renewal fees to the EPO.
Traditional European patents have to be validated in every single member state they are essentially a bundle of patents enforceable before national courts according to different national legislations and procedures. Since 1978 the European Patent Office (EPO) has been examining European applications and granting patents for its (currently) 39 member states. Part one: the bumpy road of the creation of the Unitary Patent system.įor decades the creation of a truly harmonized European patent system has been on the agenda.
Bumpy road drawing series#
In a short series this blog will go through the main characteristics of the system and decisions that need to made to get ready and to protect inventions, both new and existing. In June 2023 the European patent landscape will see one of the most dramatic changes in decades with the introduction of the Unitary Patent (UP) and the opening of Unified Patent Court (UPC).
0 kommentar(er)
