Lisbon, 08/06/2016 (Agence Europe) - Benoît Battistelli, the President of the European Patents Office (EPO) stated that if the United Kingdom left the European Union it could possibly undermine the process involved for the entry into force of the single patent. Mr Battistelli was speaking during the 2016 European Inventors Prize ceremony taking place in Lisbon between 7-9 June.
Although the President did not speak on the issue of the referendum on 23 June next and refused to speculate about it in any way, he did say that the EPO "would enter a period of uncertainty if the United Kingdom were to leave the EU". In the event of a Brexit, the period in which the modalities for negotiating new relations with the United Kingdom and the EU could last several years. Mr Battistelli indicated "We have no idea when the question of the single European patent could be tackled. No one knows".
Despite this uncertainty, the President did, however, affirm that "Italy would replace the United Kingdom if the latter were to leave the EU". According to the treaty, the European single patent will enter into force on the condition that 13 out of the 26 signatory countries ratify the United Patent Court (UPC), including the three EU member states validating the most patents. These three countries are currently Germany, France and the United Kingdom. The EPO President stated that "If Great Britain is no longer a member of the EU, Italy will be the fourth country registering the most patents" (see EUROPE 11504). He also said that Italy had already made a commitment to the ratification process, "which will normally be defined by the end of the year".
Mr Battistelli is not ruling out the hypothesis that even if the United Kingdom leaves the EU, if could, nevertheless, decide to ratify the treaty creating the single patented jurisdiction.
If the opposite happens and the United Kingdom remains in the Union, there will be "no repercussions" on the single patent and the British "will ratify the treaty by the end of the year", explained the EPO President. According to Mr Battistelli, all the necessary conditions for the entry into force of the single European patent will be met by October or November, because France has already ratified the agreement on the single patent jurisdiction and the Germans have already begun their ratification process. In this connection, the EPO President is confident that "the first single patent could be awarded by 2017". (Original version in French by Maëlle Didion)