La patente europea con efecto unitario y su régimen jurídico

Abstract

I. Marco tradicional de protección de las patentes en Europa: fragmentación. II. Unión Europea: cooperación reforzada en materia de patentes. III. Acuerdo sobre el Tribunal Unificado de Patentes y fundamentos del “paquete de patentes”. IV. Protección uniforme: evolución del modelo previo. V. Caracterización de las reglas sobre ley aplicable y aplicación de las legislaciones nacionales. VI. Conclusión.

Pursuant to Article 3 of Regulation (EU) 1257/2012, a European patent with unitary effect shall provide uniform protection and shall have equal effect in all the participating Member States. Due to the limitations of uniform substantive patent law, such uniform protection is achieved as a result of a choice of law rule that designates the national law of a single Member State as the one that defines the acts against which a unitary patent provides protection. The uniformity of the protection conferred by the unitary patent stems from the application of the national law designated in accordance with Article 5(3) and Article 7 of Regulation (EU) 1257/2012. Therefore, the same law will be applied with respect to all the territory in which a patent has unitary effect, although the uniform protection may vary for different patents to the extent that different national laws are applicable. The provisions of Article 5 and 7 Regulation (EU) 1257/2012 on the designation of the applicable national law play a different function than conflict of laws rules such as those established in the Rome II Regulation since they are intended to determine the content of the law of protection concerning European patents with unitary effect. The interpretation of Article 24 of the Unitary Patent Court Agreement on the determination by the Court of the applicable national law, including where relevant the law of non-contracting States, is also discussed