Britain’s UPC approval faces ‘likely’ delay after EU referendum approved
Lawyers have said the UK’s ratification of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) is likely to be delayed after Parliament passed a bill that will allow a popular vote to determine the country’s EU membership.
Philip Hammond, secretary of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs, introduced the European Union Referendum Bill 2015-16 to the House of Commons on May 28, just three weeks after the Conservative Party was elected to power.
Yesterday, June 9, the Commons passed the bill in a 544-53 vote. All the UK’s political parties represented in the House of Commons backed the bill, except the Scottish National Party.
It means the bill will now head to the House of Lords. If the Lords approves the law, the referendum will be held before the end of 2017.
James Tumbridge, partner at law firm Pillsbury who often gives ad hoc advice to the UK government, said the UPC is unlikely to be ratified before the referendum.
But he said he welcomed a delay in the UPC’s ratification, stating that the agreement as it stands is a “political compromise” and is “not perfect”.
A delay, Tumbridge added, would mean the “huge concern about fees” can be addressed.
In May, the European Patent Office (EPO) published revised proposals for the unitary patent renewal costs.
The EPO proposed a ‘True’ Top 4 and ‘True’ Top 5 fee model, where the cost of renewing a unitary patent will be based on the cost in the four and five most popular jurisdictions in Europe for filing patents.
David Knight, partner at law firm Fieldfisher, said that while the referendum will mean a delay in the UK’s ratification of the UPC, there is no reason for “the building blocks not to be built”.
He added, however, that he has concerns over the court regime’s IT system, which the UK is due to put together, saying that the UK’s departure from the EU would mean there is a question over who puts it into place.
Graham Johnson, partner at law firm Appleyard Lees, said that while the referendum will “no doubt lead to some uncertainty”, patent owners needn’t worry.
He added: “A referendum on the EU should not affect UK companies' ability to secure European-wide patents via the EPO.”
In order for the UPC to be implemented, 13 member states, including Germany, France and the UK, must ratify the related treaty.
So far, seven nations have ratified it, including France. The most recent approval came from Luxembourg, which ratified the UPC last month.
