UNIFIED PATENT COURT

Milan is to have local division of the Unified Patent Court: arrangements are proceeding smoothly according to Sandro Gozi, who spoke yesterday at an event organised by Milan’s town council and other stake holders.

The Italian government is making arrangements to open a local division of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) in Milan according to Sandro Gozi, the Italian Undersecretary for European Affairs who first announced Italy’s intention to join the unitary patent and ratify the UPC Agreement soon (see here and here).

Mr Gozi at the event, with supporters of a Milan UPC division

Mr Gozi spoke yesterday in Milan at an event called “Italy is joining the unitary patent, now for a UPC division in Milan”, organised by the Milan Town Council and other stake holders in the creation of a local division.

“Milan meets all the requirements to host a UPC local division”, the undersecretary said, pointing out that over 30% of Italian patents are filed in Lombardy, and over 400 patent related proceedings are brought before the Milan’s specialized IP Court each year.

Mr Gozi and the other speakers at the event all seemed very confident that there will be no problem in obtaining a local division for Milan, and that the details will be finalised in a few weeks. The town council has already found and allocated appropriate premises in this new building in via Pace, right next to the Milan District Court (the white building visible in the background).

The undersecretary also spoke about Italy’s joining the unitary patent, and said that the government is “working to make up for lost time and to adapt the unitary patent system as much as possible to the needs of Italian enterprises, especially smaller ones”, namely by introducing a ceiling for translation costs, and reducing renewal fees, for SMEs.

While it is understandable that Italy expects a local division of the UPC in exchange for its U-turn on the unitary patent, it is hard to see how the government intends to reopen the issue of fees, that was recently finalised by the Select Committee.

Unfortunately, question time was not scheduled for the event.