Munich loses battle for the seat of the European Patent Court

Brussels - The new EU patent court gets its seat in Paris, while Munich and London have to settle for field offices. In this new arrangement, the official seat of the court's central division, its president's office and registry will reside in Paris. Meanwhile, some departments will be based in London and in Munich. This was announced by the President of the EU Council, Herman Van Rompuy, on the eve of the European Council Summit. The European Council summit reached an agreement last week on the project of creating a EU Unified Patent plus a corresponding court system, namely a EU Unified Patent Court.

Munich stood a good chance of hosting the court because it already hosts the Federal Patent Court, as well as both the German and the European Patent Offices. The future EU Patent Court is not to be confused with the existing European Patent Office (EPO), as it will only resolve legal disputes. For the granting of a patent in a centralized process, the EPA has jurisdiction. European patents would only be translated into the three official EU languages German, English and French.