Dramatic changes to the European patent system are planned for
next year or the following year. In particular, there will be a new
European patent with unitary effect across, ultimately, 25 EU
Member States and a new Unified Patent Court with jurisdiction
across all Member States of the EU that have signed up to
it.
Towards the end of 2014, Advocate General Bot issued his opinion
that the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) should
dismiss the challenge brought against the system by Spain; the 17th
and almost final draft of the rules of the procedure of the new EU
Unified Patent Court was published; and an open consultation
hearing was held in Trier, Germany to discuss a small number of
outstanding issues concerning those rules. It is clear that the new
European patent system is going forward. It is a seismic change to
the European patent litigation system which will impact global
patent enforcement strategy. Parties should start to prepare
themselves and think about important strategic decisions now.
We have received substantial client interest in learning more about
the upcoming changes to the European patent system. We have
prepared the attached document that explains the changes, gives
details about the latest news and also briefly addresses the way in
which parties should prepare themselves.
The document is a brief summary, and we would be happy to arrange
for our UK patent litigation practitioners, Anthony Trenton and Trevor
Cook, to meet you and your colleagues and present further
information about these important developments.
Download the full pdf of this alert.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
