UPC membership ‘incompatible’ with future EU relations: UK IP minister

Membership of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) system is “incompatible” with the UK’s approach to future relations with the EU, said the UK’s IP minister in a letter confirming the country’s non-participation.

In late February, the  news broke that the UK would not be seeking involvement in the UPC, despite the ratification of the underlying agreement in April 2018.

However, at the time, the UK Intellectual Property Office didn’t offer comment, with the confirmation of non-participation instead coming from a Number 10 spokesperson in late February.

The manner in which the decision was revealed prompted questions by peers during a House of Lords EU Justice Sub-Committee hearing on March 10.

As part of the questions, the sub-committee chair wrote to the IP Minister, Amanda Solloway, asking for confirmation that the UK would not be seeking involvement in the UPC system.

In her  reply, Solloway expanded on the government spokesperson’s explanation, which noted that “participating in a court that applies EU law and bound by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) is inconsistent with our aims of becoming an independent self-governing nation”.

The government’s approach to negotiations with the EU, published on February 27, sets out the vision “for future cooperation between legally autonomous sovereign equals” said Solloway.

This approach ruled out any obligation for UK laws to be aligned with the EU's, or for the EU's institutions to have any jurisdiction in the UK, she added.

“Continued participation in the UPC would mean ceding jurisdiction over key patent disputes in the UK to a court that is bound to apply and respect the supremacy of EU law, including judgments of the CJEU,” said the letter.

Finally, Solloway confirmed that the government will not be seeking the UK’s continued participation in the UPC and unitary patent.

The UPC has also suffered a blow in Germany, with the German Federal Constitutional Court  upholding a constitutional complaint filed against the country’s UPC legislation in March.

Despite the ruling, the German government is  pushing for the project to go ahead.

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