Jurisdictional arrangements for the EU patent to be discussed at the EU Competiveness Council meeting next week

Following the publication by the Commission of the draft regulations necessary to implement unitary patent protection on 13 April and the "Blueprint" for intellectual property law on 24 May, read our update on the current status of the two ongoing initiatives aimed at achieving a unified patent system for Europe.

Next steps

• The European Union Patent: The draft regulations are now with the European Parliament awaiting a first hearing. In its "Blueprint" for intellectual property rights announced on 24 May, the EU Commission has said that:

"[We] will work with the European Parliament and the participating Member States to adopt these measures as soon as possible".

• The European and EU Patents Court: At the press conference announcing the "Blueprint" for intellectual property rights on the 24 May, Commissioner Barnier commented that a proposal on the jurisdictional arrangements for the EU patent  has been sent to the Member States and that this will be discussed next week at the Competiveness Council meeting, with further discussion planned for June.

Read our update

Lawyers Helen Cline, Matthew Royle, Saufung Ma