EU leaders in deal on unitary patent system

EU leaders have agreed on a deal to set up a unitary patent system with a new Unified Patent Court based in Paris.

The court will have ‘clusters’ or specialist sections in London for cases involving pharmaceutical and life science companies and Munich for those involving engineering and resources.

Vince Cable, business secretary, said the agreement was a “major success” for UK and for business.

“The deal means for the first time a single patent will be valid across 25 European countries,” Cable said.

“The reduced translation costs and simplified enforcement regime will help to support innovative companies and make an important contribution to growth across Europe.”

Cable said important changes to the design of the system would safeguard against delays and uncertainty in settling patent disputes.

However Keith Hodkinson, chairman of patent and trade mark attorneys Marks & Clerk, said the deal “did not in fact represent a final agreement on the unitary patent court or a victory for the UK government”.

He went on: “Whilst the location the court is certainly of economic significance, and the decision to locate at least certain specialist work in London is of course welcome, the chief concern for the professions and industry has always been the fundamental flaws in the regime, rather than the issue of where cases are heard.”

Hodkinson said it was quite possible that the UK has signed up to a “blank cheque”, or the very regime it was threatening to veto.

He said it was unclear what would happen on the role of the ECJ and on ‘bifurcation’ or splitting infringement and invalidity issues into separate proceedings.

“We would have preferred clarity on these fundamental practical issues in the regime before committing the UK to it. Better to allow a few months to rewrite the articles than to go into a new regime blind.”

A spokesman for US firm McDermott Will & Emery said Europe had debated setting up a single patent system for more than four decades and the agreement was a “true landmark” for technology businesses.

“At last it will be possible to resolve disputes across Europe through a single court system,” he said.

“Furthermore, a new European patent will make it easier and significantly cheaper to get patent protection with unitary effect in most countries of the EU.”