Countdown closed. Since 1 June – after more than ten years of gestation – the Unitary Patent (European patent with unitary effect) has officially come into force. A historic milestone – 50 years after the signing of the 1973 European Patent Convention – and a single “umbrella” of protection for intellectual property rights in Europe. From 1 June, in practice, users can apply for a European patent with unitary effect – through a single procedure, subject to a single renewal fee and in the same currency, and will be able to manage disputes with a single legal system before the Unified Patent Court (UPC).
Court, which also started yesterday, creating, for the first time, a centralized litigation system for patents and the possibility of bringing cases at European level.
Headquarters of the Tribunal
At the moment, officially, the headquarters of the Unitary Patent Courts remain two, Paris and Munich (the Court of Appeal is based in Luxembourg).
This is because membership on the edge of Italy (see the article of 18 May) to the proposal by France and Germany to establish in Milan a branch of the Central Division of the Unified Patent Court (but with less powers than those pertaining to the original London branch) not create an automatism. Everyone agrees, in words, but ratification is still awaited.
«The Central Division of the Court, which we hope will be located in Milan, must be approved – explains Marina Tavassi, former president of the Court of Appeal of Milan and coordinator of the Technical Table on the unitary patent – by the Administrative Committee which brings together all the contractors. The first meeting is set for today. But it won’t be enough. If there are no objections, the vote will come to the second meeting. In any case, pursuant to article 87 of the founding treaty, the acceding states have up to 12 months to present any opposition. This means that, in the best case scenario, Milan, having already started as the seat of the Local Division, will be able to add the seat of the Central Court only in June 2024″.