Creation of EU Unitary Patent System Approved

Mar 16, 2011

On 10 March 2011, European Union (EU) Competition ministers authorized a proposal for EU Member States (MS) to create a unitary patent system. The proposal was adopted by all MS except Spain and Italy, and means that future patents will be automatically valid throughout all EU MS. Ministers hope that this new system will foster economic growth. The official languages of the new patent system will be English, French, and German, and Spain and Italy will have the chance to opt-in to the system. Over the next few weeks, the European Commission will release further details regarding moving forward on the systems creation.

http://cordis.europa.eu/fetch?CALLER=EN_NEWS&ACTION=D&SESSION=&RCN=33178