Brussels, 27/06/2016 (Agence Europe) - The United Kingdom and the member states participating in the European Patent Office (EPO) should resolve the issue of the unitary patent and the Unified Patent Court “as soon as possible”, said EPO President Benoit Battistelli in a press release published on Friday 24 June.
Entry into effect of the European unitary patent will be deemed to be effective once the agreement on the Unified Patent Court (UPC) is ratified by 13 member states, necessarily including Germany, France and the United Kingdom, the three member states filing the largest number of patent applications. As the country lodging the fourth highest number of patent applications, Italy was to replace the United Kingdom, in the event of a Brexit vote, as Battistelli confirmed to EUROPE at the start of the month (see EUROPE 11568).
Another area of difficulty is where the division of the UPC dealing with disputes in the chemicals and metallurgy sectors is to be based. Initially, it was to be in London, under the terms of the 2013 agreement (see EUROPE 11504). Milan now could be a potential candidate to host the said division (see EUROPE 11504).
According to a diplomat, the UK referendum vote could seriously slow the launch of the unitary patent, given that the three pillars of the patent (the regulation creating the unitary patent, the regulation on the language arrangements and the international agreement on the unified court) must be adopted for the unitary patent to be implemented. Battistelli hopes the first unitary patent will be issued in 2017 (see EUROPE 11568).
The outcome of the UK referendum “has no consequence on the membership of the UK to the European Patent Organisation, nor on the effect of the European Patents in the UK”, said Battistelli. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)