London Branch Of Unified Patent Court To Boost UK's Standing In Pharma Litigation
This article was originally published in The Pink Sheet Daily
Executive Summary
Eight of the needed 13 EU member states have ratified agreement for a single European patent system, and the UK's approval is expected early next year.
In the latest stage in the establishment of the European Union's new Unified Patent Court system, the UK Intellectual Property Office has announced that the London section of the court's central division is to be located in the Aldgate Tower in east London.
The London section will deal with disputes over chemical and pharmaceutical patents. The UPC is favored by industry stakeholders since it will provide a single patent and single forum for litigation in Europe (Also see "Drug Makers Relieved As Europe's Unitary Patent Gets Predictable Boost" - Pink Sheet, 19 Nov, 2014.). The initiative has been many years in the making but still is pending final ratification by EU member states.
"The signing of this lease represents a milestone in the UK's preparations for the introduction of the Unified Patent Court," said IP Minister Baroness Neville-Rolfe. "Aldgate Tower, with its superb central location, will provide an ideal home for a modern court to support the UK's and Europe's leading edge innovative companies. This will further strengthen UK's legal and professional services sector, and reinforce London's status as a world leading center for dispute resolution."
Andrea Brewster, president of the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys, told the Life Sciences Intellectual Property Review the institute was "confident that the court will be a success and will help to make the UK's capital the center for all patent-related legal activity in chemical and pharmaceutical innovation."
For Alan Johnson, partner at law firm Bristows, the choice of the tower sent a signal that the UK was "fully committed to making London the hub for European patent litigation in the UPC era." Those who doubted that the UK was committed to the court project "have been proved wrong," he added.
What If It Doesn't Happen?
Despite this clear commitment, a small grey cloud hangs over the arrangements, in the form of the UK referendum on EU membership that is due to be held sometime before the end of 2017 (Also see "Cons Of 'Brexit' For Pharma Could Far Outweigh Pros" - Pink Sheet, 20 Jul, 2015.). Opinions differ as to whether London would be able to keep its section of the court in the event of a "Brexit", but according to lawyer Annsley Merelle Ward it seems there is a get-out clause in the lease agreement just in case.
The IPO had to seek planning permission for a "Change of use of the eighth floor from Class B1(a) (Offices) to a mix of Class B1(a) and Sui Generic (Courtroom), personal to the Unified Patent Court," Ward wrote on the AmeriKat law blog. A covering letter from the UK Intellectual Property Office's agents notes that if the IPO decides to relocate in future, the use of the eighth floor will revert automatically to full Class B1(a) offices, she noted.
"The AmeriKat interprets this as meaning that if the UPC doesn't happen (pending a UK referendum on membership of the EU) or is somehow delayed then the IPO, or indeed another governmental body, can make use of the space."
Eight Countries Ratify UPC Agreement
Meanwhile, Portugal has become the eight country to ratify the UPC Agreement, and must now deposit its instrument of ratification with the Council of the EU. For it to come into force, the agreement must be ratified by a minimum of 13 EU member states, including France, Germany and the UK. Of those three, only France has done so, although the UK intends to complete the ratification process sometime early in 2016.
[Editor's note: This story was also published in Scrip Intelligence.
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