Leading European IP Judges Call For Unified Patent Court

by Ulrika Lomas, for LawAndTax-News.com, Brussels

04 November 2005

According to a report from the Legal Week news service, many of Europe's leading intellectual property (IP) judges have expressed their support for an industry-led campaign to create a unified European Patent Court.

The so-called 'judges' resolution', signed by 24 patent judges from 10 EU member states, expresses support for the European Patent Litigation Agreement (EPLA).

The EPLA would create a European Patent Court designed to function as a unified court of first instance and an appeal court for cross-border patent disputes. However, there would also be local 'sub-courts' in eight key locations throughout the EU.

The European Commission has so far resisted calls to ditch its own proposed model of patent reform, despite the fact that it has become mired in controversy.

Speaking to Legal Week, senior UK IP Judge, Lord Justice Jacob explained that:

"There have been proposals for a European Patent Court since the 1950s and the latest proposals produced by the Commission were massively defective, so we need to sort this out for the sake of european industry."

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