Earlier this year the Agreement on creating a European Unified Patent Court was signed in Brussels. As it is well known, now the Agreement needs Ratification by at least 13 participating EU Member States, including the “Big Three”, namely Germany, United Kingdom, and France, to enter into force.
While the languages of the Agreement itself and its related Statues of the Unified Patent Court are technically fixed by the signatures of the representatives of the participating EU Member States and, hence, are to be considered as final, the Rules of Procedure (RoP) have been published so far only in their 15th Draft version. According to Article 41 of the Agreement, the Rules of Procedure shall lay down the details of the proceedings before the Court. The Rules of Procedure need to be be adopted by the Administrative Committee on the basis of broad consultations with stakeholders.
As the Administrative Committee of the Unified Patent Court can constitute itself only after the Agreement has effectively entered into force, currently there is no competent body to take any binding decision in that respect.
However, the participating Member States of the EU have agreed to create a Preparatory Committee (made up of Representatives of those States like it will later on happen with regard to the Administrative Committee and currently chaired by Mr. Paul van Beukering) informally anticipating the text of the Rules of Procedure. After entering into force of the Agreement (in some future) it is politically expected that after formal inauguration of the Administrative Committee the latter will more or less just rubber-stamp the proposals of the Preparatory Committee. The present Draft Rules of Procedure have been prepared by a drafting Committee of expert judges and lawyers, and has been the subject of technical consultations with professional and industry bodies. The Drafting Committee was composed as follows:
- Kevin Mooney (UK, Chairman)
- Klaus Grabinski (DE)
- Willem Hoyng (NL)
- Winfried Tilmann (DE)
- Pierre Véron (FR)
- Alice Pezard (FR)
- Christopher Floyd (UK)
We would like not to omit to remind you that from
25 June 2013 until 1 October 2013
the Draft Rules of Procedure are be open to written comments from stakeholders or other interested parties. Respondents are requested to send them to
secretariat@unified-patent-court.org.
Only contributions received through this address will be considered. According to the Roadmap as published, the Adoption of Rules Procedure in the Preparatory Committee is then planned to happen by July 2014.
In order to simplify access to and citation, quotation and hyperlinking of the available texts of the Agreement, the Statute as well as the Rules of Procedure on an Article-by-Article or Rule-by-Rule mode, respectively, KSNH has provided an informal Wiki-Style version thereof:
- Unified Patent Court Agreement (UPCA)
- UPCA Statues of the Unified Patent Court
- Preliminary set of provisions for the Rules of procedure of the Unified Patent Court
However, yet not all cross-links between the Articles and/or Rules are in place.
Axel H. Horns
German & European Patent, Trade Mark & Design Attorney
3 Responses to Wiki Edition of Agreement on Unified Patent Court Agreement (UPCA)
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
MISCELLANEOUS
The KSNH blogging landscape
This blog and the German-language sister blog k/s/n/h::jur link to the two popular and privately run blogs IPJur und VisaePatentes and continue their work and mission with a widened scope and under the aegis of our IP law firm.
ksnh::law Syndication
Why not subscribing ksnh::law via e-mail? Simply enter your e-mail address and click OK. 
KSNH::JUR Feed (german)- Ist Verschlüsselung passé? September 6, 2013Auf verschiedenen Feldern beruflicher Praxis ist dafür zu sorgen, dass Kommunikation vertraulich bleibt. Die trifft beispielsweise für Ärzte zu, aber auch für Anwälte, darunter auch Patentanwälte. Einer der zahlreichen Aspekte, die in diesem Zusammenhang eine Rolle spielen, ist die Technik, um die Vertraulichkeit beruflicher Kommunikation sicherzustellen. Wa […]
- EU-Einheitspatent: Demonstrativer Optimismus und Zahlenmystik allerorten – Naivität oder politische Beeinflussung? June 26, 2013Nach mehreren vergeblichen Anläufen zur Schaffung eines EU-weiten Patentsystems wurde 1973 als Kompromiss das Europäische Patentübereinkommen unterzeichnet, welches unabhängig von der seinerzeit noch EWG genannten Europäischen Union System zur zentralisierten Patenterteilung mit nachgeordnetem Einspruchsverfahren durch das Europäische Patentamt schuf. Wie wi […]
- Moderne Zeiten oder: DPMA und Patentgericht streiten über die elektronische Akte April 25, 2013Bekanntlich hat das Deutsche Patent- und Markenamt (DPMA) im Jahre 2013 mit der rein technischen Fertigstellung der Einrichtungen zur elektronischen Akteneinsicht einen wichtigen Meilenstein seines Überganges von der Papierakte zur “elektronischen Akte” erreicht. Im DPMA werden aber bereits seit dem 01. Juni 2011 Patente, Gebrauchsmuster, Topografien und erg […]
- Gutachten zu Forschung, Innovation und technologischer Leistungsfähigkeit Deutschlands 2013 March 11, 2013Unter dem Datum vom 28. Februar 2013 ist die Bundestags-Drucksache 17/12611 veröffentlicht worden Sie trägt den Titel Unterrichtung durch die Bundesregierung - Gutachten zu Forschung, Innovation und technologischer Leistungsfähigkeit Deutschlands 2013. Die Bundesregierung legt dem Deutschen Bundestag seit dem Jahr 2008 […]
- 3D-Printing: Zum Filesharing von 3D-Modelldaten February 25, 2013In meiner kleinen zuvor angekündigten Reihe über rechtliche Aspekte des 3D Printing komme ich heute auf die Frage zu sprechen, ob die Hersteller von Gerätschaften es hinnehmen müssen, wenn Ersatztreile davon – vom Brillengestell über Smartphone-Gehäuseteile bis hin zu Rastenmähermotor-Abdeckungen – gescannt und die daraus […]
- Ist Verschlüsselung passé? September 6, 2013
[...] [...]
[...] Court under the still-to-be-ratified Unified Patent Court Agreement (UCPA), the Members of the Drafting Committee under the guidance of the Preparatory Committee apparently thought it might be a good idea to set [...]
[...] Court under the still-to-be-ratified Unified Patent Court Agreement (UCPA), the Members of the Drafting Committee under the guidance of the Preparatory Committee apparently thought it might be Read article [...]