Milan will be the seat of the third central division of the Unified Patent Court: Italy’s Foreign ministry has confirmed that an agreement has been reached with France and Germany, and that Milan’s central division will begin operations in about a year.

The Italian Foreign ministry announced yesterday, 18 May 2023, that Milan is to be the new seat of the third central division of the Unified Patent Court (UPC). According to the ministry’s press release (in Italian) the agreement reached in negotiations with France and Germany will be submitted to other UPC participating states to be formalised during the next meeting of the Administrative committee.

The document points out that other UPC states have accepted Italy’s arguments in support of Milan’s candidacy and confirms that the third central division will become operative in about a year, as was already expected (more here).

No reference is made to the issue of the competencies of Milan’s central division; one may assume that discussions with France and Germany on this point, obviously the most controversial, are not over.

The communique does specify however that the decision to assign the third central division to Milan will, as requested by the Italian government, “be subject to early revision in 2026, much earlier than stipulated by the Agreement (2030), which will allow the assessment of the division’s proper functioning, and the correction of any imbalances, to be carried out sooner.”

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