EU Unitary Patent System – The State of Affairs Heinz Goddar Boehmert & Boehmert 29/10/2011 – EU Unitary Patent System

2 Position of European Court of Justice (ECJ)  March 8, 2011: ECJ declares former drafts for a unitary patent and patent court system in Europe as inconsistent with EU treaty  Pending at court: Complaint of Italy and Spain that present (new) proposals of EU Commission for unitary patent system in EU are inconsistent with EU treaty  reason: translation regiment regulations according to Italy/Spain need unanimous decision of all EU member states 29/10/2011 – EU Unitary Patent System

3 Position of EU Commission  „Paper“ COM(2011) 215 final (2011/0094 (CNS)) of April/ June 2011 lawfully creates unitary patent system of EU member states except Italy/Spain  EU patent embedded in EPC, „regional“ patent for all EU countries except Italy and Spain  regional patent can be requested after grant of EPC patent  „Paper“ COM(2011) 261 final (2011/0093 COD)) of April/June 2011 clarifies lawfully translation question:  If EPC patent in English, translation into one other official EU language, if not in English, into English  For transitory period (e.g. 15 years?) machine translation of patent into English 29/10/2011 – EU Unitary Patent System

4 Problems of Present Situation  No proposal yet for unitary EU/EPC patent court, which only could cover EU member countries of EPC  e.g. Switzerland would be left aside  Might jeopardize EPC as such 29/10/2011 – EU Unitary Patent System