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One month after the European Court of Justice found the European Commission’s plans for a unitary patent litigation system to be in contradiction with EU law, the European Commission is proposing a slightly less ambiguous approach for the time being. |
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Enhanced cooperation in the area of unitary patent protectionAt the request of 12 Member States, the Commission proposed to launch enhanced cooperation in the area of unitary patent protection on 14 December 2010. Following the Commission’s decision, another 13 Member States submitted their request to join the enhanced cooperation. The European Parliament gave its consent on 15 February and on 10 March 2011, the Competitiveness Council authorised the launch of enhanced cooperation with the participation of 25 Member States. The implementation of the authorising Council decision requires the adoption of two regulations; one on the creation of unitary patent protection and a second on the applicable translation arrangements. On 13 April 2011, the Commission adopted the proposals for the implementing regulations. Barroso announces “IP reform” as a “measure to boost the Single Market”The president of the European Commission has announced 12 “measures to boost the Single Market”. One of them is “IP reform”. He sounds as if he meant Digital Rights Managment, but he may actually be referring to “Enhanced Patent Cooperation”. |
