Italy to join Unitary Patent – minister

Managing IP is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 1-2 Paris Gardens, London, SE1 8ND

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2025

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Italy to join Unitary Patent – minister

UPC

Italian State Secretary for European Affairs Sandro Gozi confirmed that Italy will join the Unitary Patent during a public session of the EU Competitiveness Council in Brussels

UPC

Gozi (below left) intervened during a discussion on the EU trade mark reform package today, saying he had to leave the meeting shortly.

He said (English translation): “The Italian government has decided to agree to enhanced cooperation on the Unitary Patent. We have also started a procedure to amend the court procedure and we hope that this will move forward very fast.”

“We felt it was necessary to do this because the conditions were ripe. This has no impact on the language discrimination point. We still think this is something which is a dividing factor rather than a unifying factor and the Unitary Patent shouldn’t be seen as a precedent on this linguistic matter.”

Gozi's speech starts at about 2 hours 41 minutes into the video recording of the meeting. He gave more details on Italy’s position in a video interview after leaving the meeting (in Italian).

Sandro Gozi

Italy was one of two countries along with Spain that did not take part in the enhanced cooperation that led to the Regulations on the Unitary Patent. Both countries had concerns about the English/French/German language regime.

Despite this, Italy had signed the UPC Agreement and planned to host a local division of the Court in Milan.

However, its opposition had weakened in recent years and there were strong rumours that it would sign up to the Unitary Patent after the CJEU rejected Spain’s challenge earlier this month.

Spain remains outside the system, and Poland and Croatia are unlikely to take part at least at the beginning.

Trade mark package

Also during the meeting, UK Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and SKills Baroness Neville-Rolfe (below right) said the UK was not able to support the recently agreed trade mark package in its entirety since “it enables future revenue surpluses at OHIM to be transferred to the general budget and this is a red line for the UK. As IP minister, I would prefer any surpluses to be recycled to support innovation, enforcement etc.”

Lucy Neville-Rolfe

Germany’s State Secretary, Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection Gerd Billen added: “As to how the question of how national institutions will cooperate, I think we have come up with a valid proposal on this.”

EU Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska welcomed the agreement, saying it would help to more effectively tackle counterfeit products. “The Commission did have concerns about the financial aspects and governance of OHIM, and these concerns remain. We have issued a statement and will still discuss it. In the view of true added value for users, the Commission has decided to support it even with those concerns,” she said.

More details about the trade mark reform package are expected to be revealed next month.

Also on the Council’s agenda today was the Digital Single Market, which was discussed off-camera.

more from across site and SHARED ros bottom lb

More from across our site

Attorneys explain why there are early signs that the US Supreme Court could rule in favour of ISP Cox in a copyright dispute
A swathe of UPC-related hires suggests firms are taking the forum seriously, as questions over the transitional stage begin
A win for Nintendo in China and King & Spalding hiring a prominent patent litigator were also among the top talking points
Rebecca Newman at Addleshaw Goddard, who live-reported on the seminal dispute, unpicks the trials and tribulations of the case and considers its impact
Attorneys predict how Lululemon’s trade dress and design patent suit against Costco could play out
Lawyers at Linklaters analyse some of the key UPC trends so far, and look ahead to life beyond the transition period
David Rodrigues, who previously worked at an IP boutique, said he may become more involved in transactional work at his new firm
Indian smartphone maker Lava must pay $2.3 million as a security deposit for past sales, as its dispute with Dolby over audio coding SEPs plays out
Powell Gilbert’s opening in Düsseldorf, complete with a new partner hire, continues this summer’s trend of UPC-related lateral movement
IP leaders at Brandsmiths and Bird & Bird, who were on opposing sides at the UK Supreme Court in Iconix v Dream Pairs, unpick the landmark case and its ramifications
Gift this article