Following our note “The Future European Patent System: Being Prepared,” we report here on the very latest news on the implementation of the major changes to the European patent system. In recent weeks, there has been important news relating to the dismissal of Spain’s challenge in the Court of Justice of the European Union, which was the final legal hurdle to the system, and also as to the proposed level of fees in the new system—namely those for litigation in the Unified Patent Court (including the opt-out fee) and for renewing a Unitary Patent, both of which will influence how the system is used.

THE FINAL LEGAL HURDLE HAS NOW BEEN CLEARED -

On 5 May 2015, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), as was generally expected, disposed of the objections taken by Spain to the creation of European unitary patent protection. Spain had raised, in two actions, a large number of discrete objections to the legality of the system. These included criticism of European Patent Office (EPO) procedures and the incorporation of those procedures into EU law, the delegation of EU powers to the EPO and Member States, and the adoption of a language regime that discriminates against Spanish, in favour of English, German and French. The CJEU summarily dismissed each of the objections. With regard to the language objection, it acknowledged that the regime discriminates between languages, however it took the view that the benefits of the new system outweigh the disadvantages. The potential benefits of the new system were evidently uppermost in the court’s mind and determined the way in which the court addressed each of Spain’s objections. There are now no more legal hurdles to implementation. The destiny of what is a political project is now again in the hands of the Member States, as the UPC Agreement awaits ratification.