by Jeremy Erwin , Ross Magee April-26-2024 in Commercial & Business, Intellectual Property
Ireland is due to hold a referendum to amend the constitution to recognise the Unified Patent Court (UPC). The referendum which was due to be held in June of this year, has now been deferred as the government has stated that more time is needed for public discourse and engagement on the matter.
The UPC became operational on 1 June 2023 and is currently operating in 17 countries in the EU with another 7 signatory states (including Ireland). The UPC was set up as division of the European Courts to deal with the infringement and validity of new unitary patents, an alternative to European or national patents, and European patents. National patents are not affected by the UPC and therefore it will not effect national patent litigation.
Ireland signed the UPC Agreement in 2013 but it has yet to formally ratify the agreement which requires constitutional amendment. Should Ireland ratify this, a local division would be established in Ireland and the Irish courts would hand over a portion of its jurisdiction in patent litigation to the UPC. Ireland would be the only native English-speaking jurisdiction to house a local division which would mean access to the system for those from the US and UK and other English-speaking jurisdictions.
The UPC has a court of first instance, which is divided into local, regional and central divisions, together with an appeal court. As with national courts, references may be made to the Court of Justice of the EU on the interpretation of EU law.
Infringement claims are required to be brought in the local or regional division of the Court in the member state where the infringement has occurred or where the defendant has its registered place of business. If neither of these apply, or the member state does not have a local or regional division, the proceedings will be directed to the central division.
The majority of cases are currently being brought in German and English. The UPC judges have encouraged bringing cases in English, especially for urgent injunctive relief. English is a common language across all divisions and an urgent case can then be heard by a standing judge in a different country.
A revised date has yet to be set for the referendum.
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About the Authors
Jeremy Erwin
Jeremy specialises in insolvency, commercial litigation and dispute resolution, acting for a variety of companies and financial institutions in contract law cases, enforcement and recovery actions and in high value complex Commercial Court proceedings. Jeremy also specialises in intellectual property matters, including advising on registration and protection of trade marks and related rights and on trade mark disputes.
Ross Magee
Ross is a Solicitor in the Commercial & Business team at Hayes solicitors. He practices predominantly in insolvency, commercial litigation and dispute resolution. He acts for a variety of corporates, financial institutions, private equity funds and private individuals in contentious matters that include, insolvency; enforcement and recovery; landlord and tenant; intellectual property, defamation and other general litigation claims.