On April 16 and 17, 2010, the Centre for International Intellectual Property Studies (CEIPI) is organizing a conference at the European Parliament in Strasbourg on the topic: “Towards a European Patent Court”, under the high patronage of Mrs Catherine Trautmann, Member of the European Parliament and former Minister for Culture and Communications.
There is now a rather broad consensus in favour of the creation of a common jurisdiction to settle disputes related to European patents and forthcoming Community patents. Indeed, the effectiveness of patent rights closely depends on the jurisdictional system in charge of its implementation. On this matter the present system could be improved.
Nevertheless, it raises several delicate questions that remain to be settled. With this in mind, the CEIPI has invited a panel of specialists – academics, practitioners and senior officials – who will share their expertise during the two days of the conference on the main issues of this ambitious project : the structure of the Court, the composition of the panels and the appointment procedure ; the jurisdiction ratione materiae ; the jurisdiction ratione loci ; the link between the European Patent Court and the European Court of Justice ; the agreement’s coming into force and opting-out ; representation ; and languages.
This conference aims to formulate ingenious and constructive proposals on all these topics and thus to contribute to the achievement of this important project.
