Wednesday 27 November 2013

European Unitary Patent and Unified Patents Court: CIPA publishes Hugh Dunlop's book

European patent attorney Hugh Dunlop (Jenkins) has written a new book, European Unitary Patent and Unified Patents Court, which is so new that this blogger has yet to find a way of buying it.  The publisher is the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys, but this title has not yet joined the growing and illustrious list of titles featured on the Textbooks, Manuals and Other Publications page of its website.  According to the back-cover blurb,
A single patent for the European single market has been a policy goal for over four decades. In December 2012, Member States and the European Parliament agreed on a new package of legislation in the form of two Regulations for a Unitary Patent and an international Agreement for a Unified Patent Court, thereby laying the ground for enhanced cooperation in unitary patent protection between all but a few of the EU Member States.

Once the Agreement and the Regulations enter into force, it will be possible to obtain a European patent with unitary effect - a legal title ensuring uniform protection for an invention across Member States on a one-stop shop basis, providing huge cost advantages and reducing administrative burdens.

There will be a new court with a Central Division to be shared between Paris, London and Munich:
• London - chemistry, pharmaceuticals; human necessities;

• Munich - mechanical engineering;

• Paris - everything else.
This volume includes a brief commentary on the structure, the legislation and the draft Rules of Procedure of the Court, in their 15th revision. Simple charts guide the reader through the procedures. The Regulations, Agreement and draft Rules are set out in their entirety and indexed, to provide a complete reference source.
This reviewer expects that there will be a flurry of books on this title and that, given both the importance of the subject matter and the monumental uncertainties that occupy centre stage in the minds of so many of us, it will be some time before any of these books fails to sell well.

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