Source: https://www.fr.com/global/unitary-patent-faqs/
Timestamp: 2018-06-19 14:40:50
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EU Unitary Patent & Unified Patent Court FAQs | Fish
EU Unitary Patent & UPC: Frequently Asked Questions…and Unofficial Answers!
This page provides our unofficial answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about the European Union’s Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court proposals that are now in the process of approval by the EU member states. Our answers are based on information available on the “Last Updated” date at the end of this page.
The Basics – Today
What is the European Patent Office (EPO)?
Is There an Alternative Today to European Patents?
What is the EU Patent Package?
What is the Connection that Makes This a Package?
Will this Package be Effective Throughout the EU?
Could an EU Member State That Does Not Initially Sign and Ratify the UPC Agreement, Join In Later?
Can non-EU members of the EPO, such as Norway, Switzerland and Turkey, participate in the Unitary Patent and the Unitary Patent Court?
How soon could the package take effect?
The EU Unitary Patent Regulation
What is the EU Unitary Patent Regulation?
What is the EPO’s role?
How will EPO handing of Unitary Patent matters be implemented?
How do I file an Application for a Unitary Patent?
What is the effect on applications now pending or filed in the EPO before the Unitary Patent regulation becomes effective?
Can I add EU countries to my EU Unitary patent if they ratify after my patent is granted?
Why will the EU Unitary Patent only include some EU states?
Will the Unitary Patent be effective outside the EU?
How will the EU Unitary Patent costs compare with national patents?
Will I be able to validate a Unitary Patent for only a few countries, to save costs?
Will I have to pay annual maintenance fees to each of the participating member states to keep my Unitary Patent in force?
What will be the amounts of the annual maintenance fees?
Will I be able to cancel Unitary Patent coverage is some states, to reduce annual maintenance fees?
The EU Unitary Patent Translation Regulation
Why Is the Translation Regulation Important?
What Are the Initial Translation Provisions for Unitary Patents?
What Are the Translation Provisions for Unitary Patents After the Transitional Period?
What is the EU Unified Patent Court Agreement?
What will be the UPC’s jurisdiction?
What are the main parts of the Unified Patent Court?
What is the Central Division?
Where is the Central Division located?
What are the Local Divisions?
What are the Regional Divisions?
Can Local and Regional Divisions also decide on validity cases?
Where will the Appeals Court be located?
What Will Be the Role of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU)?
How Will the UPC Be Governed?
How Will the UPC Be Funded and Will There Be Court Fees?
What are the Potential Obstacles to the Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court?
What are the Ratification Issues?
Is There Litigation About These Package?
What if the ratification minimum is not reached or the proposals are blocked by the CJEU decision?
UNOFFICIAL ANSWERS
1. What is the European Patent Office (EPO)?
The European Patent Office (EPO) is a part of the European Patent Organization (EPOrg), created by the European Patent Convention (EPC), to accept and examine patent applications on behalf of member states and issue European Patents. The EPO is not an agency of the European Union (EU), because it was created by a separate treaty, and has both EU and non-EU member states.
2. What is a European Patent?
The European Patent is a document granted by the European Patent Office (EPO), which the member states have agreed (in the EPC) can be validated, maintained and enforced as national patents in the EPC contracting states.
3. Is There an Alternative Today to European Patents?
Yes. National patents can be obtained in Europe in the traditional way, by filing and prosecuting national patent applications in national patent offices, and can be enforced in national courts. That method of patenting and enforcement will not be affected by the new EU patent package.
4. What is the EU Patent Package?
The EU patent package consists of two EU regulations (laws) and a new agreement (treaty), which were approved by the EU Parliament and Council in December 2012:
EU Regulation 1257/12 will create a single “European Patent with unitary effect” (Unitary Patent) for a majority of EU member states;
EU Regulation 1260/12 provides the translation arrangements for Unitary Patents; and
The Unified Patent Court (UPC) Agreement, EU Document 16351/12 of Jan. 11, 2013, will create a single, Unified Patent Court system for litigation in the participating states of both classical European Patents and those having unitary effect.
The UPC Agreement has been supplemented by two protocols:
Protocol on provisional application of the Unified Patent Court Agreement; and
Protocol on privileges and immunities.
The Protocol on provisional application (“PPA”) will take effect when Germany has either ratified, or has given notice that they have received parliamentary approval to ratify the UPC Agreement and two more, other member states sign the PPA. That Protocol will then immediately permit the Court to hire judges and staff, and take practically all other organizational steps before formally opening to receive cases.
5. What is the Connection that Makes This a Package?
The Unitary Patent regulations, which have been fully approved, provide that they will come into effect on the same date as the UPC Agreement (UPCA).
6. Will this Package be Effective Throughout the EU?
The package will be effective only for states that ratify the UPC Agreement. Spain and Italy did not support the package, primarily because translation into their national languages would not be required, and Poland took a wait-and-see attitude. Therefore, the package is proceeded on the basis of “enhanced cooperation,” a provision of EU treaties that permits a majority of EU states to proceed by agreement when unanimity cannot be attained. On September 30, 2015 the EU Commission announced that Italy, which had signed the UPC Agreement (but has not yet ratified it) has joined the Unitary Patent scheme. See our Chronology page.
7. Could an EU Member State That Does Not Initially Sign and Ratify the UPC Agreement, Join In Later?
Yes. That possibility will remain open to all EU member states, including those that do not initially sign or ratify, and any new EU members. Spain, which raised the most objections to the UP and UPC, now appears to be moving toward joining.
8. Can non-EU members of the EPO, such as Norway, Switzerland and Turkey, participate in the Unitary Patent Court and the Unitary Patent?
No, not under the present arrangements.
While the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) indicated in Opinion No. 1/09 in 2011 that a new patent court for less than all EU members would be permissible in principle, it also ruled that participation in a patent court by non-EU states would be inconsistent with EU treaties if that court’s decisions were not subject to CJEU review on issues concerning the interpretation and application of European Union law.
The possibility that the UK would leave the EU (Brexit) reopened consideration of whether a non-EU state (post-Brexit UK) could continue to participate in the UPC. It appears that it be easier for the UK to stay in the UPC if it joins the UPC before Brexit, rather than for it to join the UPC Agreement post-Brexit. because (1) the UPC Agreement is not an EU Agreement, (2) it appears to be simpler to modify the UPCA once it takes effect, and (3), by signing and ratifying the UPCA, the UK will have agreed that the UPC shall be subject to CJEU review on issues concerning the interpretation and application of European Union law. On 26 April 2018, the UK deposited its ratification of the UPCA.
The Unitary Patent right is being created by European Union regulation, only for EU states. Post-Brexit participation by the UK in the Unitary Patent, therefore, is more complicated than its UPC participation. That subject will need to be included in Brexit negotiations between the EU and the UK.
If the UK is permitted to continue in the UPC and UP arrangements, that may open the door to participation by other EPO Member states that are not EU member states.
9. How soon could the package take effect?
As a practical matter, the effective date is likely to depend on completion of the minimum ratification of the UPCA, which now only requires ratification by Germany. The Protocol on provisional application of the UPC Agreement will allow some parts of the UPC Agreement to be applied early, including the recruitment of judges, testing of IT systems and early registration of opt-out demands. A 21 December 2017 report by the Chairman of the Preparatory Committee indicated that the UPCA provisional application phase needs to be a period of between six to eight months in order to have time to put everything in place and prepare for the Court to be operational. Therefore, the Court is likely to open to receive cases about eight months after Germany is in a position to ratify.
German ratification is on hold, pending a decision on a Complaint to the German Constitutional Court challenging ratification. The Court has indicated it will decide, on at least the admissibility of that challenge, in 2018.
(See also Ratification Issues at FAQ 42 below).
10. What is the EU Unitary Patent Regulation?
It is European Union regulation No. 1257/12 of Dec. 17, 2017, a law that will permit the European Patent Office (EPO) to issue a single, “unitary European Patent with unitary effect” (Unitary Patent) for 13 or more participating EU states, which must include France, Germany and the United Kingdom.
11. What is the Unitary Patent?
“Unitary Patent” is the short name for a “European Patent with unitary effect. “It will be a European Patent granted by the EPO under the rules and procedures of the European Patent Convention, which the patent applicant requests be given unitary effect for the territory of all EU member states participating in the Unitary Patent system at the time of grant of a European Patent.The Unitary Patent will co-exist with traditional national patents and with classical European Patents. Patent applicants will be able to choose to validate European Patents in various combinations of classical European Patents and Unitary Patents, for example:
A Unitary Patent for the EU member states that participate in the Unitary Patent system at the time of European Patent grant plus classical validation of a European Patent in any combination of EU member states that are not participating in the Unitary Patent system at that time and non-EU EPC contracting states, which cannot participate in the system; or
Only a European Patent, classically validated as national patents in the EPC contracting states selected by the applicant.
12. What is the EPO’s role?
Up to grant of a European Patent, the EPO will have the same role it has now. After the effective date, European Patent applicants will be able to choose at the time of grant whether to obtain an EU Unitary Patent for the EU states that have ratified the Unified Patent Court Agreement (UPCA) or one or more national patents for those states. If an applicant elects validation as a Unitary Patent, the EPO will have additional tasks that would be performed by national patent offices in connection with classical European Patents and national patents. In particular, the Unitary Patent regulation provides that the participating member states will entrust the following tasks to the EPO, to be carried out by the EPO on the basis of the internal rules of the EPO:
Receiving and examining requests for unitary effect;
Registering unitary effect;
Publishing any required translations during the transitional period;
Setting up and maintaining a new “Register for Unitary Patent protection,” containing entries on assignment, transfer, lapse, licensing, limitation or revocation of Unitary Patents;
Collecting annual maintenance fees for Unitary Patents;
Distributing part of the annual fees to the participating member states; and
Administering a compensation scheme for reimbursement of translation costs (up to a ceiling) for certain applicants filing applications in an official language of the European Union other than the official EPO languages (English, French and German).
13. How is EPO handing of Unitary Patent matters being implemented?
The EU member states participating in the Unitary Patent system have set up a “Select Committee” of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organization (EPOrg, the umbrella organization including the EPO) to adopt the necessary legal and financial framework. The implementing rules will be based on the existing rules and procedures under the European Patent Convention.
14. How do I file an Application for a Unitary Patent?
File a conventional application for a European Patent. No separate or different application is required. The decision of whether or not to obtain a Unitary Patent will be made at the time of grant of a European Patent.
15. What is the effect on applications now pending or filed in the EPO before the Unitary Patent regulation becomes effective?
European Patent applicants will be able to validate European patents as Unitary Patents after the Unitary Patent system is in effect, at least those based on applications filed after 1 March 2007 that are pending when the system becomes effective. (Applicants desiring a Unitary Patent may want to delay prosecution of applications filed within that period until the UP system takes effect so that grant of European Patents occurs after the effective date and a Unitary Patent can be elected).It had been intended that the Unitary Patent option would be available for election in all applications for European that are pending when the UP system starts; however, a potential problem has arisen. Article 3 of the Unitary Patent Regulation provides “A European patent granted with the same set of claims in respect of all the participating Member States shall benefit from unitary effect in the participating Member States.…” Apparently, the drafters did not consider the possibility of grant of a European Patent after the UP system comes into force, for less than all states that might participate in the UP system. Normally, an European Patent application is treated as a designation for all EPO contracting states at the time of filing. But what if a country joins the EPO after an application is filed? It is not a designated state and cannot be designated because it was not a member at the date of filing. Malta is an EU member state that joined the EPO on March 1, 2007. It has signed and ratified the UPC Agreement (UPCA). No Unitary Patent can be issued on an application filed before March 1, 2007. Croatia joined the EPO January 1, 2008 and has recently joined the EU. It has not yet signed the UPCA. But after it signs and ratifies the UPC Agreement, no patent applications filed before 2008 will qualify for unitary protection.
16. Can I add EU countries to my EU Unitary patent if they ratify after my patent is granted?
No. Validation as a Unitary Patent will be available only at the time of European Patent grant. Protection in other EU countries and non-EU members of the EPO can only be obtained by national patent validation at the time of European Patent grant or by separate national patent applications.
17. Why will the EU Unitary Patent only include some EU states?
The EU treaties normally require unanimity for the EU to adopt a EU patent law, but permit a group of member states to create a single patent by agreement (treaty) under a procedure called “enhanced cooperation.” Spain and Italy initially did not agree to the EU-wide patent granting and enforcement proposals, primarily because the proposals did not require translations into their languages, primarily for internal political reasons. Because unanimity could not be achieved, the other 25 EU member states at that time proceeded have without them. The UP and UPC system will come into effect a few months after 13 EU states, including France, Germany and the UK have deposited their instruments of ratification. Therefore, initially, there probably will be less than 25 participating states, with more likely to join later (See also Ratification issues below).
18. Will the Unitary Patent be effective outside the EU?
Originally, there was a proposal for a Unitary Patent and a patent court for all states of the EU and other interested, contracting states of the EPC. That proposal was rejected by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) as inconsistent with the EU treaties. As a result, the current package is limited to EU member states (See FAQ 8).
19. How will the EU Unitary Patent costs compare with national patents?
The three principal patent cost components are prosecution and validation, translation and renewal fees. Because the Unitary Patent (UP) is a European Patent (EP), the prosecution costs will be the same as a conventional EP. There will not be any fee for validation as a UP. A translation into one other language will be required.
The level of renewal fees probably will be a major factor in deciding whether to validate an EP as a UP or as national patents. The UP renewal fee schedule was tentatively set by the Select Committee in June 2015, before Italy joined the UP scheme and has not been increased as a result of Italy joining. It provides fee levels corresponding to the equivalent of the renewal fees which would be paid for France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. For details, see our Unitary Patent Costs page here.
20. Will I be able to validate a Unitary Patent for only a few countries, to save costs?
No. If validation as a Unitary Patent is elected at the time of grant of a European Patent, it will be for all of those EU states that have ratified at that time, no more and no less.
21. Will I have to pay annual maintenance fees to each of the participating member states to keep my Unitary Patent in force?
No. There only will be a single EU annuity for a Unitary Patent, paid to the EPO.
22. What will be the amounts of the annual maintenance fees?
The UP renewal fee schedule was set by the Select Committee in June 2015,before Italy joined the UP scheme and has not been increased as a result of Italy joining. It provides fee levels corresponding to the sum of the renewal fees which would be paid for France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. See our Costs page here.
23. Will I be able to cancel Unitary Patent coverage is some states, to reduce annual maintenance fees?
No. A current practice of some companies, which discontinue patent coverage in some states after a few years to save on annual maintenance fees, will not be possible if they elect a Unitary Patent. The inability to selectively abandon a Unitary Patent (because it is unitary) in some states, to save costs, will be one consideration in deciding whether to validate a European Patent as a Unitary Patent or as a group of national patents.
24. Why Is the Translation Regulation Important?
Translations are a major part of patenting costs in Europe, and an obstacle to obtaining protection throughout the European Union. The Unitary Patent translation regulation recognizes English as the principal language and eliminates most existing, applicant-funded translation requirements during an initial, transitional period of up to 12 years. Eventually, translations will be unnecessary, except possibly in the case of litigation.
25. What Are the Initial Translation Provisions for Unitary Patents?
During a transitional period of up to 12 years, only one translation will be required in connection with Unitary Patent validation:
where the language of proceedings at the European Patent Office (EPO) is French or German, the patent proprietor will have to provide a translation of the European Patent into English; and
26. What Are the Translation Provisions for Unitary Patents After the Transitional Period?
After the transitional period, the plan is to rely on publication of the patent description in one of the EPO’s working languages (English, French and German), the existing practice of translating the claims into those three languages, and machine translations into the languages of all EU members of the EPO. The EPO has launched “Patent Translate,” a machine translation program developed with Google, and it is expected that no applicant translations will be required when machine translations become sufficiently accurate. According to the EPO, “Patent translate” offers free online access, for information purposes, to automatic machine translations of any European Patent application or patent. Patent Translate is now complete and covers translations between English and 31 other languages. Translation from and into French and German is also available for 27 of these languages. In case of European patent litigation, at the request of a court or an alleged infringer, the patent proprietor will be required to provide a full human translation into the relevant language.
27. What is the EU Unified Patent Court Agreement?
It is an agreement (treaty) by almost all of the 27 European Union member states that will create a single Unified Patent Court (UPC) system for participating EU states, to handle European Patent infringement and validity cases.
28. What will be the UPC’s jurisdiction?
Eventually, the UPC will have exclusive jurisdiction for litigation involving both classical European Patents and Unitary Patents in the participating states. During a seven year transitional period (and possibly for a longer period), however, there will be some possibilities for owners of classical European Patents (but not Unitary Patents) to opt-out of the UPC and choose an alternative, national forum. (See our opt-out page here).
The UPC will have jurisdiction to hear:
actions for infringement of patents and of supplementary protection certificates;
counterclaims for revocation;
revocation actions;
actions for provisional and protective measures and injunctions; and
actions against decisions of the EPO relating to Unitary Patents.
29. What are the main parts of the Unified Patent Court?
The Unified Patent Court will be a Court of First Instance having a central division, and local and regional divisions, and a Court of Appeals.
30. What is the Central Division?
It is a division of the Court of First Instance that will have general jurisdiction, including jurisdiction over parties not resident in Europe. The Central Division can take decisions on infringement and validity in unified proceedings.
31. Where is the Central Division located?
As a result of a compromise in June, 2012, Central Division cases will be allocated by technology (according to EPO classification) to judges sitting in three different locations. The Central Division headquarters will be in Paris and the judges sitting there will handle cases in most technologies. The London branch will handle medical device and pharmaceutical cases. A branch in Munich will handle cases primarily relating to mechanical engineering.
32. What are the Local Divisions?
Local Divisions will be established in EU Contracting Member States upon request. An additional local divisions shall be set up in a Contracting Member State upon its request for every one hundred patent cases per calendar year that have been commenced in that Contracting Member State during three successive years prior to or subsequent to the date of entry into force of this Agreement. The Local Divisions will have jurisdiction to handle European Patent infringement actions instead of the Central Division. An action can be brought before a Local Division hosted by a member state where the actual or threatened infringement has occurred or may occur, or where the defendant has its residence.
33. What are the Regional Divisions?
Regional Divisions may be established by at least two Contracting Member States instead of Local Divisions, at the request of those states. They will have jurisdiction similar to that of local divisions.
34. Can Local and Regional Divisions also decide on validity cases?
If the defendant files an invalidation action, a local or regional division has the discretion either to (a) proceed with both the action for infringement and with the counterclaim for revocation and request the President of the Court of First Instance to allocate from the Pool of Judges a technically qualified judge with qualifications and experience in the field of technology concerned, (b) refer the counterclaim for revocation for decision to the central division, and suspend or proceed with the action for infringement; or (c) with the agreement of the parties, refer the case for decision to the central division.
34a. What languages will be used in the UPC?
UPCA Article 49 governs the language of proceedings at the Court of First Instance.
The default provision for cases at the Central Division is to use the language in which the patent concerned was granted.
The default provision for cases at any Local or Regional Division is one or more official language(s) of Contracting Member State(s) participating in the division, designated by the participating state(s). However, those states also may designate one or more of the official languages of the European Patent Office (English, French or German) for use in their local or regional division.
If the parties in a Local or Regional Division case and the competent panel agree, the language in which the patent was granted may be used as the language of proceedings. If the panel does not approve the parties’ choice, the parties may request that the case be referred to the Central Division. The President of the Court of First Instance also has authority to require the use of the language in which the patent was granted, at the request of one of the parties and after having heard the other parties and the competent panel.
UPCA Article 50 provides that the language of cases before the Court of Appeal normally shall be the language of proceedings before the Court of First Instance; however, the parties may agree on the use of the language in which the patent was granted as the language of proceedings or, with the agreement of the parties, the Court of Appeal may decide to use another official language of a Contracting Member State for all or part of the case. As a practical matter, it appears likely that most of the UPC proceedings will be conducted in English because a majority of European Patents are granted in English, because the common language of the judges on the panels (which must be multinational) is likely to be English and because many Contracting Member State(s) participating in Local or Regional Divisions have announced that their division will permit or require the use of English. For example, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Sweden have agreed to create a Nordic-Baltic Regional Division in which the sole language will be English; and Belgium has said it would permit use of its three national languages and English in its Local Division. It is not yet clear whether some or all of the German Local Divisions will permit use of English.
35. Where will the Appeals Court be located?
The Appeals Court will be located in Luxembourg.
36. What Will Be the Role of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU)?
The CJEU is the final arbiter of EU law. Like the courts of EU member states, the UPC will have authority to refer questions of EU law requiring interpretation to the CJEU for a preliminary ruling. However, efforts were taken in drafting the Unitary Patent regulations and UPC Agreement to minimize the need to involve the CJEU and there is no provision for appeals to the CJEU. That apparently was due to concerns over potential delays in the CJEU reaching a final decision and the fact that, unlike—for example—the U.S. Supreme Court, the CJEU does not have experience or precedents in patent law.
Interestingly, in the recent cases involving attacks on the UP and UPC proposals, the CJEU took care to point out that the European Patent Convention and the Unified Court Agreement are separate agreements of participating states to which the EU itself is not a party.
37. Who will the Judges Be?
The UPC will be made up of internationally composed panels, with legally qualified judges and technically qualified judges. The judges will be appointed by a committee of the participating states, on the basis of a list prepared by an independent committee of patent practitioners. There were a large number of indications of interest in being a UPC judge from qualified persons. Some were identified as already highly qualified to serve as judges and others were designated for further training. A group of candidate judges has completed the first two training modules and will next serve internships in Europe’s most specialized patent courts.
38. Who will Represent the Parties?
Representation will be by either
lawyers authorized to practice before national courts; or
European Patent Attorneys with appropriate qualifications.
39. How Will the UPC Be Governed?
The UPC will be governed by and in accordance with the UPC Agreement (UPCA) and Rules of Procedure. An Administrative Committee, created by the UPCA, may revise the Agreement to improve the functioning of the court, based on user consultation and an opinion of the court. Preparations for establishment of the UPC by a Preparatory Committee of the participating states are proceeding in parallel with ratification of the UPCA.
Draft rules for the UPC have been in preparation for several years. Now, the Preparatory Committee expects to agree on a final set of UPC Rules of Procedure at its meeting in October, 2015. The Committee issued the 17th Draft of the on 31 October 2014 (Copy here). This draft was issued by the Legal Group of the official Preparatory Committee itself. Earlier drafts were produced by an advisory Experts Group. The 17th draft is in mark-up form, showing the amendments by the Expert Group as a result of the written consultation in red (16th draft) and amendments made by the Legal Group in blue. The Committee also published a table (here), comparing the 16th and 17th drafts, and including the explanatory notes to the changes. A copy of a 18th draft prior to consideration at the committee’s June 2015 meeting has been circulated unofficially (copy here).
40. How Will the UPC Be Funded and Will There Be Court Fees?
The operation of the UPC will be funded entirely by court fees, although participating member states are expected to pay at least some of initial costs for establishing the court. It is expected that there will be both fixed based fees and, for certain actions, an additional value based fee, similar to the system in Germany. On February 25, 2016, the UPC Preparatory Committee approved publication of “Rules on Court fees and recoverable costs” with a proposed “scale of recoverable cost ceilings,” and related Guidelines. It decided that there will be no fee to opt-out of the UPC, contrary to an earlier plan for a €80 opt-out fee. These rules are final, “subject to legal scrubbing” and adoption by the UPC Administrative Committee when it is established.
Although earlier proposals had included a €80 fee to opt-out of UPC jurisdiction over a conventional EP, the final fee rules do not impose an opt-out fee.
41. What are the Potential Obstacles to the Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court?
There have been three principal, potential obstacles to implementation of the Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court: the possibility that the UK will leave the EU (“Brexit”), possible failure to obtain the necessary ratifications, and litigation seeking to block one or all parts of the package. We address Brexit in this FAQ, ratification issues in FAQs 42 and 44, and litigation in FAQs 43 and 44.
The UPCA requires UK ratification to come into effect and requires that the ratifying parties be EU member states. The UK referendum “Brexit” vote on June 23, 2016 cast doubt on whether the package could proceed. The UK government, however, has announced several times that it would ratify the UPC Agreement. On 26 April 2018, the UK deposited its ratification and declared that it had taken the necessary steps to implement the Protocol on provisional application of the UPCA. Expert opinions lean toward the view that the UK will be able to stay in the UPC following Brexit. The UK’s ability to participate in the Unitary Patent after Brexit will have to be negotiated with the EU. (See FAQs 43-45 and our Chronology page).
42. What are the Ratification Issues?
As discussed above, the Unitary Patent regulations will not be effective until “minimum ratification” of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) Agreement. Minimum ratification requires ratification by 13 of the 27 EU member states, which must include France, Germany and the United Kingdom. Of the required states, France and the UK. German ratification has been delayed by litigation (see FAQ 43).
As of May 24, 2018, 16 member states have deposited their ratification instruments (AT, BE, BG, DK, EE, FI, FR, IT, LT, LU, MT, NL, PT, SE), four states have received parliamentary approval to ratify (DE, LV, SI and UK), and 10 of those states have expressed consent to be bound by the PPA (BE, DK, EE, FI, FR, IT, LU, NL, SE and UK). (See here) See our Chronology page and the European Council’s websites listed on our EU Official Documents page for information on the further progress of ratifications.
43. Is There Litigation About This Package?
Yes. Now there is some national litigation, most notably in Germany. Earlier litigation in the CJEU was concluded by May 2015. Litigation over whether the UK can continue to participate in the UPC after Brexit also is possible.
Germany – In April 2017, an individual filed a complaint in the German Federal Constitutional Court, challenging the constitutionality of German legislation enabling the ratification of the UPCA. Constitutional complaints are common in Germany; however, most are dismissed at an early stage. In this case, the court requested that the President of the Republic temporarily refrain from signing and submitting for publication the legislation previously passed by the German parliament, which—when signed and published—would enable Germany to ratify the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (UPC). Currently, the deadline for responsive comments from the German government and invited third parties is 31 December 2017. A decision by the Court whether the complaint is admissible is expected in early 2018.
CJEU – The decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Opinion No. 1/09 in 2011 prevented adoption of a broad European patent package that would have included non-EU states, primarily on the ground that the CJEU must have jurisdiction over EU law questions. (Following the Brexit vote, some experts believe that the UK could join the UPC before leaving the EU and remain in the UPC after leaving, because it would have consented to such CJEU jurisdiction in signing and ratifying the UPC Agreement, and could agree to be bound by that agreement when leaving the EU).
The CJEU dismissed four other cases that sought to block the UP and UPC. In the first two of those cases, filed in 2011, Spain and Italy each sued to block the UP & UPC proposals (Case Nos. 274/11 and 295/11). The principal question was whether 25 EU member countries may implement enhanced cooperation in the area of the creation of Unitary Patent protection without Spain and Italy. The CJEU issued its judgment on April 16, 2013, firmly rejecting all of the objections raised in those cases. In March 2013, Spain brought two further cases (Case Nos. C-146/13 and C-147/13) before the CJEU, challenging the EU regulations establishing the Unitary Patent system and its translation regime, respectively. On 5 May 2015, the CJEU issued its judgments, firmly rejecting Spain’s arguments and dismissing those cases.
44. What if the ratification minimum is not reached or the proposals are blocked by a CJEU decision?
The Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court proposals are a package; therefore, neither can come into effect until the UPC Agreement’s minimum ratification requirements are satisfied. All of those requirements, except ratification by Germany, have been completed.
If the UPCA does not become effective while the UK is an EU member, revision of the UPCA or adoption of a protocol would become necessary to at least address (1) the requirement that member states be EU member states, (2) the requirement that the UK be a member state, and (3) the UPCA designation of London as a seat of part of the UPC Central Division. Changes could either allow UK participation or eliminate references to the UK. Supporters of the UPCA have been reluctant to proceed by revision of the UPCA or adoption of a protocol, both because of further delay and because of the possibility that would reopen debate regarding other parts of the agreement.
As noted in FAQ 43 above, German ratification has been delayed pending a decision by the German Constitutional Court. If that court finds the German ratification legislation was defective, further legislation will be necessary in Germany. It is possible, but we believe unlikely, that the German court will find some issue of EU law exists, and refer that question to the CJEU, which would delay implementation of the UPC and UP package for several more years.