EU Unitary Patent System – The State of Affairs

Heinz Goddar

Boehmert & Boehmert

29/10/2011 – EU Unitary Patent System

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Position of European Court of Justice (ECJ)

March 8, 2011: ECJ declares former drafts for a unitary patent and patent court system in Europe as inconsistent with EU treaty

Pending at court: Complaint of Italy and Spain that present (new) proposals of EU Commission for unitary patent system in EU are inconsistent with EU treaty reason: translation regiment

regulations according to Italy/Spain need unanimous decision of all EU member states

29/10/2011 – EU Unitary Patent System

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Position of EU Commission

„Paper“ COM(2011) 215 final (2011/0094 (CNS)) of April/ June 2011 lawfully creates unitary patent system of EU member states except Italy/Spain EU patent embedded in EPC, „regional“

patent for all EU countries except Italy and Spain

regional patent can be requested after grant of EPC patent

„Paper“ COM(2011) 261 final (2011/0093 COD)) of April/June 2011 clarifies lawfully translation question: If EPC patent in English, translation into

one other official EU language, if not in English, into English

For transitory period (e.g. 15 years?) machine translation of patent into English

29/10/2011 – EU Unitary Patent System

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Problems of Present Situation

No proposal yet for unitary EU/EPC patent court, which only could cover EU member countries of EPC

e.g. Switzerland would be left aside

Might jeopardize EPC as such

29/10/2011 – EU Unitary Patent System