The Italian government is in favour of joining the enhanced cooperation on the unitary patent and is already acting to ratify the Unified Patent Court Agreement, according to the announcement made yesterday by an Italian official during the EU Competitiveness Council.

At yesterday’s EU Competitiveness Council Sandro Gozi, the Italian Undersecretary of State to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers delegated for European Affairs, announced (view webcast) that Italy intends to join the unitary patent and will soon ratify the Unified Patent Court Agreement.

“The Italian government has taken a political position in favour of joining the enhanced cooperation on the unitary patent and is preparing its ratification of the Unified Patent Court Agreement, which we hope will proceed swiftly in parliament” Mr Gozi said, and explained that the government now believes that the conditions are right for Italy to give its full support to the unitary patent system.

The undersecretary pointed out that the Italian government’s resolve “has no effect on the issue, which we still consider relevant, of language discrimination. We believe that this is a divisive factor, not a unifying one. That is why our decision to join the unitary patent and ratify the [Unitary Patent Court] agreement is not to be considered a precedent with regard to the general issue of language”.

The unitary patent’s language regime, that provides for patents to be issued only in English, French and German, is the rock that in 2010 scuttled the attempt to create a single patent valid throughout all EU member states, as opposed to one valid only in states party to the enhanced cooperation.

Language discrimination was also one of the recurring arguments used in the four appeals against the unitary patent filed by Italy and/or Spain with the Court of Justice of the EU, which has meanwhile rejected them all.

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