The heavily discussed arrival of the Community patent has faced a setback.
After years of discussion, the Council of the European Union asked the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg on July 6, 2009 to give an opinion on its draft agreement regarding a court for the European and Community patent. The ECJ had to decide whether this common system for settling patent disputes is compatible with the provisions of the EC Treaty.
On March 3, 2011, the European court gave its negative opinion. According to the draft of the agreement between the European Union, EU member states and third countries, a central court would be introduced in Europe, which would have exclusive jurisdiction for disputes regarding European patents as well as the proposed Community patents.
“According to the draft of the agreement between the European Union, EU member states and third countries, a central court would be introduced in Europe, which would have exclusive jurisdiction for disputes regarding European patents as well as the proposed Community patents.”
The rest of this article is locked for subscribers only. Please login to continue reading.
If you don't have a login, you will need to purchase a subscription to gain access to this article, including all our online content. Please use this link and follow the steps.
For multi-user price options, or to check if your company has an existing subscription to us that we can add you to for FREE, please email Atif Choudhury at achoudhury@worldipreview.com
Community patent, ECJ