Brussels, 04/03/2014 (Agence Europe) - The first regional division of the Unified Patent Court has been set in place by Sweden and the Baltic States, which signed an agreement on this on Tuesday 4 March.
This is a fairly unusual situation, as the agreement for the unified system of patent dispute settlement has so far been ratified by just two member states, Austria and Malta. This court will have a central office in Paris, with sections in London and Munich, supported by local and regional divisions. These divisions will have headquarters in one of the participant countries, but could deal with cases in more than one country and in all EU languages. The Scandinavian version of this is the pioneer. The European Commissioner for the Single Market, Michel Barnier, said that this first regional division covering Sweden and the Baltic States shows the “determination of these states to make the European unified patent and its court a success and a reality for innovation and business, as quickly as possible”. This will make it possible to use resources effectively and offer a local service to parties involved in a dispute. The commissioner took the opportunity, however, to remind the EU28 of their duty to ratify the overall agreement on the court as soon as possible. (MD)