The discussions on the allocation of the third seat of the Central Division of the Unified Patent Court have taken a new turn recently.
With the Brexit, leading to the withdrawal of the third seat originally attributed to London, many hypotheses have been studied, such as the possibility of having only two central divisions in Paris and Munich by distributing between these two cities the competences initially offered to London, or the possibility of establishing this third seat of the Central Division in Milan or The Hague.
Since the withdrawal of the Dutch application, with Milan remaining the only candidate, the efforts of the Italian authorities have been multiplied tenfold in order to obtain the attribution of this new judicial body and to avoid the scenario of the distribution of competences between Paris and Munich, with the Italian Minister of Justice multiplying the return trips between Paris and Berlin in order to remind his French and German counterparts of "the extreme importance for Italy of the creation of the third central chamber of the Unified Patent Court in Milan". Indeed, hosting a European body would allow Italy to increase its European and global visibility in terms of intellectual property.
Today, according to many specialised media, Milan is now practically confirmed as the third seat of the central division of the Unified Patent Jurisdiction, with France, Germany and Italy currently holding trilateral discussions on the redistribution between Paris, Munich and Milan of the competences (human needs, chemistry, and metallurgy) initially attributed to the London seat.
According to the German Ministry of Justice, a decision is expected shortly.
Santarelli Group and its consultants will accompany you throughout the Sunrise Period, which started on March 1st, to prepare you for this new system in Europe.
By Jérémy Raoult, Patent Attorney
24/03/2023
