The procedure would take place in principle in the national language of the department and in the language in which the patent was issued (English, German or French) in the central department. The Court of Appeal would act in the language used by the Trial Court. 5. At the request of one of the parties and after hearing from the other parties and the competent body, the Chair of the Tribunal may, for reasons of fairness and in light of all relevant circumstances, including the position of the parties, including the position of the defendant, decide whether the language in which the patent was issued as a language of procedure is used. In this case, the President of the Trial Tribunal considers whether specific translation and interpretation provisions are necessary. However, unitary patent protection also requires a unitary patent procedure system. This is what the Unified Patent Court, which is formed from the agreement on a unified patent jurisdiction signed on 19 February 2013, provides. The agreement also contains many provisions of the proposed European Convention on Patent Disputes. [7] Unitary patent rules apply only when the agreement on a unified patent court enters into force. 5.
Where an action for revocation is pending before the Central Division within the meaning of Article 32, paragraph 1, point d), an infringement action within the meaning of Article 32, paragraph 1, point a), may be brought between the same parties in the context of a division referred to in paragraph 1 or before the central division. The relevant local or regional division has the power to proceed in accordance with paragraph 3 of this article. CONSIDERING that the European Patent Convention (ETC), ratified by all EU Member States, provides for a uniform procedure for the issuance of European patents by the European Patent Office; European patents are issued by the European Patent Office under the 1973 European Patent Convention; Thirty-eight countries (including all European Union countries) are parties to the convention. After its issuance, a European patent (notes 2) becomes a “set of national patents” in all countries (subject to translation requirements in an official language of that country) and annual taxes are also due in all countries. Infringement procedures in one country have essentially no effect in other countries, which sometimes results in several complaints about the same European patent in different countries, which sometimes yields different results.