UNITARY PATENT : 24 MEMBER STATES SIGN COURT SYSTEM AGREEMENT.

The final piece of the legislative package on the future unitary patent, the international agreement setting up the court system that will rule in disputes on this intellectual property instrument, was signed on 19 February, outside the Competitiveness Council. Twenty-four member state representatives signed the agreement that permits the organisation of a unified judicial system for this EU patent. Once the system is in place, there will be only one set of legal proceedings to rule on counterfeiting or the validity of a patent and the verdict handed down will apply in all the signatory states. This contrasts with the current system, which obliges companies to initiate proceedings in each state where a European patent is challenged, with the risk of the conflict having different outcomes under different national laws (see Europolitics 4546).

Bulgaria and the Czech Republic did not sign the agreement because they have not completed the national administrative process giving a mandate to a minister to do so, while Poland has postponed its signature, made impossible for the moment for domestic political reasons. Italy, on the other hand, is not participating in the enhanced cooperation establishing the two other regulations on the future unitary patent (see box) but decided to participate in the agreement on the judicial system.

Ireland's Minister for Employment, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton, who oversaw the ceremony, said that this signature was "a historic moment because it paves the way to the implementation of all unitary patents". He encouraged the signatory states to keep up this dynamic so that the ratification process under national legal requirements can take place as quickly as possible. The goal is to try to have the entire unitary patent system in place by April 2014.

Under the agreement, a preparatory committee will be set up to examine implementing arrangements, such as the training and recruitment of future judges, rules of procedure, etc. The committee will work closely with the European Patent Office...