Who will benefit from a single European court system?
Although the unitary patent court is to be split between three jurisdictions, local lawyers there won’t necessarily be the ones to win the new work. Ben Naylor explains
The unitary patent in numbers
|
| 2 |
EU countries (Italy and Spain) abstaining from the unitary patent agreement |
| 25 |
EU member states covered by a unitary patent |
| 5,000 |
EU Commission’s estimated cost in euros of a unitary patent |
| 36,000 |
Cost in euros of validating in each EU member state individually according to the EU |
| 142,000 |
Patent applications received by the EPO last year |
After almost 40 years of negotiations, the unitary patent system is close to being realised with the final step, the ratification of the agreement by the parliaments of at least 13 of the 25 participating EU member states, expected later this year.
Alongside disputes over the new system's language regime, one of the biggest sticking points in the negotiations was the location of the court that will hear disputes over unitary patents. The solution was a typically European one that will see the court span...
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