KURZMITTEILUNGEN
05. May 2015
European Law
In decisions announced today for the cases C-146/13 and C-147/13 of the Kingdom of Spain v. Council of the European Union and the European Parliament, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) dismissed the actions brought by Spain:
- To annul Council Regulation No 1260/2012 of 17 December 2012 implementing enhanced cooperation in the area of the creation of unitary patent protection with regard to the applicable translation arrangements; and
- To declare legally non-existent Regulation (EU) No 1257/20120 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2012 implementing enhanced cooperation in the area of the creation of unitary patent protection.
These Regulations were adopted following Council Decision 2011/167/EU of 10 March 2011 authorizing enhanced cooperation in the area of the creation of unitary patent protection, which previously had also been unsuccessfully challenged by the Kingdom of Spain (C 274/11) and Italy (C 295/11), see http://www.mueller-bore.de/notices/62.
Although the decisions of the CJEU do not come as a surprise after the Advocate General delivered the same opinions in November 2014, they conclude the last pending actions against the “unitary patent package” and, thus, represent further important milestones in establishing a unitary patent protection.
The new system is expected to come into force in 2017, after ratification of the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court signed on 19 February 2013 by at least 13 member states including Germany, France and UK. Currently, six countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Malta and Sweden) have ratified the Agreement. For the latest ratification status please refer to: http://ec.europa.eu/growth/industry/intellectual-property/industrial-property/patent/ratification/index_en.htm
While the texts of the CJEU decisions are not yet available, the today’s press release of the CJEU can be downloaded at:
http://www.mueller-bore.de/tl_files/Decisions_EPO/Press_release_CJEU_49_15.pdf
Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact: schiuma@mueller-bore.de.
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