European Unitary Patent Court One Step Closer with UK Signaling Assent

by Dennis Crouch

One of my students recently led a class discussion on the future European Unitary Patent and Unitary Patent Court.  The idea is to have a pan-European patent enforcement zone for patents issued by the European Patent Office (EPO).  This differs from the current state-of-affairs that requires patentees to go through national validation their EPO patent grant in each enforcement country and then bring individual enforcement actions in each European country.

The UK’s pending/potential exit from the EU created some question of whether the UPC Agreement (UPCA) would be ratified since the UK is a necessary party to the agreement (along with Germany and France).   Germany has also not ratified, but is expect to do so shortly.

In an announcement earlier this week, however, the UK announced that it will ratify the agreement — making the new court an almost-done-deal.  In the announcement, the UK Government noted that “The UPC itself is not an EU institution, it is an international patent court. The judiciary appointed include UK judges.”  However, Joff Wild notes that “the Court of Justice of the European Union will be the final court of appeal in the system under certain circumstances.”

We can expect that the UPC will quickly become a major patent enforcement institution – and Europe may overtake the US as patent-litigation-central.

Notes:

 

19 thoughts on “European Unitary Patent Court One Step Closer with UK Signaling Assent

  1. 4

    You’re a patentee whose patent(s) protect a product worth millions of Euros annually. Do you really want your patent case decided by an Italian, or Polish, or Greek judge? The UK and Germany have well-developed patent jurisprudence; most other EU countries don’t. The bet here is that many big-name patentees will opt out of the EPO process altogether to avoid the UPC’s jurisdiction, at least until that body develops case law and its judges gain more collective experience.

    1. 4.1

      Patentees in the US are perfectly happy to have their cases decided in a banana republic.

      You have to know how to create an opportunity. There’s lots of clever and enterprising people in Italy, Poland and Greece. Some of them are judges.

  2. 3

    the UPC will quickly become a major patent enforcement institution –

    Will this mean more EP patent litigation firms setting up outposts in the US, and vice versa?

    As for the UK as a whole, it appears to be swirling down the post-capitalism t0ilet even faster than the US. Yay, “populism” and clueless people voting out of spite! So awesome.

      1. 3.1.1

        Because there’s only two possibilities!

        LOL. You two really do make a cute couple. Can you give each other a kiss for the cameras?

        1. 3.1.1.1

          Only two possibilities…?

          Says the guy who views the world as those who “feel/belieb” as he does and everyone else thrown into one bucket.

          That well known acronym (Malcolm’s favorite meme) fits yet again.

    1. 3.2

      ” post-capitalism ”

      Hah, lefties watch as the UK imports hordes of socialist leaning immigrants to be their “new citizenry” and “new demography” and then declare “post-capitalism” and their “going down the toilet”.

      Oh MM. Too funny. But remember guys, he’s not RAYCIST. And also not a commie.

      1. 3.2.1

        Because there’s only two possibilities!

        LOL. You and “anon” really do make a cute couple. Can you give each other a kiss for the cameras?

        1. 3.2.1.1

          You really don’t get how different 6 and I are – but hey, another opportunity for your ad hominem aimed at others can be taken from your own personality. The bonus of course is that you don’t have to bother to think and can just spew.

          1. 3.2.1.1.1

            You really don’t get how different 6 and I are

            Do you want to bet on that? I’m happy to write at length about your awesome differences.

            You still make a really cute couple. Wave that flag some more and smile for the camera! So cute.

            1. 3.2.1.1.1.1

              I would rather not see you “write at length” until you do more than your short script of ad hominem and trite accusing others of that which you do. First please establish that you can discuss legal and factual matters with a modicum of inte11ectual honesty, recognize and respect what people actually say (and different people saying different things) without your attempted spin and obfuscations, and then maybe we can witness your awesome ability to tell the differences between 6 and I. Until then, you refraining from such inane comments as presented here at 3.1.1 and 3.2.1 would be a joy.

  3. 2

    Learned and upstanding UK law, starting even with the Magna Carta, such an honorable tradition and the basis for so much in the civilized west no matter how brief its existence was… now those poor Brit inventors will see his/her IP rights be subject to a conception and process of law in his/her court of last resort infected with mainland European attitudes of State and duty? So much for Brexit… when it comes to the final stroke they are doing the equivalent of deporting their own citizens and their rights to the mercy of continental Europeans.

    1. 2.1

      Not sure I understand you anon2. The British people voted for BREXIT, it is said, in order to take back control from the meddling courts of mainland Europe, the worst offender being of course the CJEU.

      But now Her Majesty’s Government has said that, despite its imminent withdrawal from the EU, it will nevertheless ratify the UPC. In the UPC, as I think you are telling us, the highest level of appeal is that very villain, the CJEU.

      Is that what you mean when you lament the exposure of British inventors to notions of “duty” and “state” as they emanate from the European mainland.

      Did those who wrote the US Constitution suffer any such infection from mainland Europe, in particular, France?

      1. 2.1.2

        Your question about “any such infection” – as any such objective and constructive judicial structure – is a resounding “No.”

        Thus, our jurisprudence (reflective of our soveriegn’s independence) is decidedly different than what is unfolding in the European Unitary Patent Court.

        Did we borrow concepts? The answer is a resounding “Yes.” But such borrowing does not and should not be cause for conflating the different sovereigns.

      2. 2.1.3

        “But now Her Majesty’s Government has said that, despite its imminent withdrawal from the EU, it will nevertheless ratify the UPC. ”

        oh that’s weird. Thanks for the update Max that’s what I was wondering about.

  4. 1

    Hang on a minute Dennis. Do not underestimate the wrecking capabilities of Perfidious Albion. The day the UK really does ratify the UPC will not dawn in my lifetime. Have a look at the Comments Thread on the IPKat blog, using the following Link:

    link to ipkitten.blogspot.de

    Look out in particular for the 1980 Yes Minister dialogue you can read at Nov 29 at 17:10 hr. So true, so true, even more today than back then! English polite society, you know, devious at its very heart!

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