Spain and Italy ask CJEU for help

The governments of Spain and Italy have asked the CJEU to annul the March 2011 European Council decision that authorised the use of enhanced co-operation for creating unitary patent protection in Europe.

Twenty-five EU member states, including the UK, Germany and Portugal, can use enhanced co-operation because unitary patent protection that would be valid throughout the EU could not be agreed on in a reasonable amount of time.

In its application for annulment, the government of Italy said that the European Council’s authorisation “adversely affects the internal market” and introduces a “barrier to trade between Member States and discrimination between undertakings, causing distortion of competition”.

The government of Spain pointed to the absence of a European patent court as a reason why the decision to authorise the use of enhanced co-operation should be annulled.

The CJEU dismissed the draft agreement for a European patent court on March 8 because it found it to be incompatible with European treaties.