6th March 2013

Expert Advice from Withers & Rogers: Unified patent system

Unified patent system gets go ahead, setting the scene for European filings to soar.

On 11 December 2012, the European Parliament gave its approval for the introduction of a one-size-fits-all unified patent system, which is on course for introduction in 2014. This is expected to further increase an already record number of filings at the European Patent Office.

After almost four years of deliberation and disagreement, the European Parliament approved the move, making use of the “Enhanced Co-operation” legislative pathway which is often chosen when unanimity cannot be achieved. This was required in this case as the legislation is opposed by Italy and Spain, both of whom had previously chosen to challenge the legislation in the Court of Justice.

Advocate General Bot issued his opinion on the legal challenge by Italy and Spain, concluding that their objections to the legislation are unfounded, and that the use of the Enhanced Cooperation legislative process in this area is legal. A full hearing of the matter is expected to take place in the Court of Justice sometime in 2013, but it is widely thought that the challenge will be rejected, leaving the road clear to implement the legislation.

A further step was taken on 19 February 2013, when an agreement establishing a Unified Patents Court (UPC) was signed. It has already been agreed that the Central Division of the Court of First Instance of the UPC will be located in Paris and the first president of the court will be French. Due to the specialist nature of patent litigation two further courts will be established, with engineering and physics cases handled in Munich and, in a move that is especially beneficial to the UK, chemistry and life science cases handled in London.

Introduction of the unified patents system is expected to lead to increased filings. It will be exciting to see if this will close the gap to the numbers of filings seen in countries like the US and Japan. Indications are good as, even without the unified patents system the last three years have seen consecutive record numbers of applications received at the European patent office.

Karl Barnfather, chairman of Withers & Rogers, says:

“This preliminary data indicates that much of the increase in filings is due to the increase in the number of applications being filed by businesses in Japan, China and Korea, which is as we would expect, due to the faster growth and relative buoyancy of these economies, but it is also good to see that filings from UK businesses were also up on the previous year.”

Adding the introduction of the unified patent system should see European patent filings increase even further.

Nick Wallin, partner and patent attorney at Withers & Rogers, says:

“Under the new system, a single unitary European patent will give innovators around the world a very valuable form of commercial protection over a marketplace of around 500 million people.”