The Unified Patent Court announced that the Italian local division location had been chosen by the Italian authorities and will be ready by mid-June 2017. It will be hosted within the premises of the new Milan Courthouse, and pictures of the building can be viewed here.
This new location completes the list published by the Unified Patent Court in February 2016 and commented on our blog, which includes the locations of:
- The court of Appeal in Luxembourg,
- The central (Munich) and local (Munich, Mannheim, Dusseldorf and Hamburg) divisions in Germany,
- The Nordic-Baltic regional division in Stockholm, and
- The central division in London. However, the UK’s decision to leave the EU jeopardizes the existence of a UPC division in the UK, and it seems very likely that the chemistry and pharmaceuticals central division will be relocated to a different country.
Regarding the judges who will be sitting in these courts, the UPC has announced that the recruitment timetable has been revised in light of the Brexit, and it appears that no appointment will be made in early 2017, as originally announced.
In fact, as explained by the UPC, “(w)hilst the preparation of candidates’ selection has continued, the commencement of the next phase which would include calling candidates for interview, has to be re-scheduled as the appointment procedure, which will be led by the future Committees of the UPC, is dependent on the entry into force of the Protocol on Provisional Application and subsequently the Agreement on the Unified Patent Court” …