Unified Patent Court Update: 12 February 2016

Transcription

1 Unified Patent Court Update: 12 February 2016 Here is the latest UPC update: Governance: The Steering Board met on Friday 5 February where they discussed the forward work programme, possible next steps with evaluation and a communication / awareness raising / education plan. Preparatory Committee: Preparations are underway for the 14 th Preparatory Committee taking place in Brussels on 24 and 25 February. On the agenda for agreement will be operating costs and operating model of the court. Rules of the Registry and Rules for the Advisory Committee will be up for agreement as well as judicial salaries and allowances and the package of court fees, SME support and recoverable costs. Members will also receive a presentation of the Case Management System by the IT Working Group. IT: The team are approaching the end of refining the front end of the system and will attend the expert drafting committee meeting towards the end of February. A reminder that if you have not registered onto the case management system yet, there is still time to do so. You can register here Please provide feedback via the send feedback button at the bottom of the web page. All feedback is gratefully received. Facilities: The construction works have begun on our floor in Aldgate Tower with completion expected by early summer. We hope to have some photographs of progress shortly. Legal: The SI is still undergoing scrutiny in Parliament. After the scrutiny process is finished the legislation will be debated in both Houses of Parliament - a date will be assigned once the scrutiny process is finished. HR & Judicial Training: Work continues within the HR & Judicial Training working group on the timescale for judicial appointments as well as terms and conditions. Finance: The Finance Team have been busy preparing for the February Preparatory Committee which includes final discussions on fees and recoverable costs and initial thoughts on tax. In addition, work continues on preparing the Court's first budget. Unitary Patent: Details of the EPO select committee and other EPO meetings are published at An official Communiqué of the last Select Committee meeting is available on the EPO website at: Relevant documentation regarding the rules relating to Unitary Patent Protection can be found at: 1

2 Janis Janis Makarewich-Hall Deputy Director, Head of UPC Taskforce Intellectual Property Office 1 st Floor 4 Abbey Orchard Street London SW1P 2HT 2

3 Unified Patent Court Update: 29 January 2016 Here is the latest update on the UPC: Preparatory Committee: The Preparatory Committee Chairman met with all the co-ordinators in Brussels this week. The agenda for next month s Committee meeting was agreed. There are some big-ticket items coming up for agreement including judicial salaries & allowances and the recruitment procedure, a suite of legal rules including those on the Registry, Advisory Committee and Arbitration and perhaps most awaited the final proposal on court fees, SME support and recoverable costs. In addition there will be a presentation of the Case Management System (CMS) ahead of working towards a seamless handover to Luxembourg who will provide the support on the IT infrastructure going forward. We will also be pressing for final agreement on the text for the Protocol on Privileges and Immunities so we can progress with the necessary legislative order. The Chairman also agreed with Legal Framework working group coordinator that the Rules of Procedure should return to the Committee at its April meeting, although already agreed, it will be necessary to take into account the agreements on court fees and other minor changes (including considering how to deal with administrative errors in the opt-out process). There are now nine member states who have ratified with Finland being the latest. Governance: I am pleased to announce the Unified Patent Court website has moved to a new content management system. This will enable better integration with the Case Management System and allow us to start work on allowing public searches of cases and documents. The updated website will also enable RSS feeds for new content and should perform better globally. The Project Board met on 27 January where they discussed in depth the current risks and mitigations, alongside detailed discussions on our finance and HR & judicial training work streams. IT: The team continue the process of refining the front end of the system as well as working on the inputs/outputs with help from Kevin Mooney of the UPC Executive Committee. Pierre Véron very kindly hosted a presentation of the IT Case Management System in Paris on Monday 25 January. A more in depth demonstration was also given of the opt-out process as well as judicial, internal judges and clerks. The Case Management System is still available so if you have not yet registered, please do so. You can register here Please provide feedback via the send feedback button at the bottom of the web page. All feedback is gratefully received. During the workshops carried out over the last year it has been identified that users would like to interface directly with the Case Management and efiling system to submit forms, query the opt-out status and case information. There is a workshop for suppliers of case management, bundle, or patent management software to discuss options for enabling API access to the courts efiling system. This will be hosted in London and you can register here, 3

4 Facilities: We are continuing to work on the final design for Aldgate Tower and anticipate the construction process to start in the last week of January and hope to have completed by the end of May. There was also a meeting of the Facilities Working Group where interpretation and translation requirements were discussed. Legal: Draft secondary legislation that will amend UK patent law to implement the UPC Agreement was laid in Parliament on 19 January. You may view and download the draft legislation and accompanying documents from the legislation.gov website at The legislation is currently undergoing scrutiny by the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments and the House of Lords Secondary Legislation Select Committee. After the scrutiny process is finished the legislation will be debated in both Houses of Parliament - a date will be assigned once the scrutiny process is finished. Work continues to resolve the final issue outstanding on the Privileges & Immunities Protocol. HR & Judicial Training: Work in the HR group has continued at pace and the meeting of the HR working group in Brussels on the 21st of January has made good progress on the judicial recruitment procedure ahead of agreeing the proposed plan at the next Preparatory Committee. Work on Terms and Conditions is also progressing well with agreement being reached on a number of sections. We remain confident that judicial appointment at the UPC will remain an attractive option to appropriate candidates from the UK. Finance: The first budget sub group meeting took place on 18 January, followed by the fees sub group (19 January) and the main finance working group on 20 January. The meetings were productive with constructive discussions around the budget and the proposal for court fees and recoverable costs. The finance working group has also agreed to use an intermediary body to research pensions, health care and social security. Unitary Patent: The EPO Select Committee has concluded its work on substantive items (fee levels, distribution key, and administrative rules). It will meet again in March to finalise administrative instructions based on the provisions agreed in December. The committee will have oversight of the EPO's administration of the Unitary Patent when the system comes into force. Details of EPO meetings are published at An official Communiqué of the last Select Committee meeting is available on the EPO website at: Relevant documentation regarding the rules relating to Unitary Patent Protection can be found at: Janis Janis Makarewich-Hall Deputy Director, Head of UPC Taskforce Intellectual Property Office 1 st Floor 4 Abbey Orchard Street London SW1P 2HT Tel: +44 (0) Mob: +44 (0) janis.makarewich-hall@ipo.gov.uk 4

5 Unified Patent Court Update: 15 January 2016 Here is the latest on the UPC. Following the break over the festive period it is now full steam ahead with the Preparatory Committee s focus on completing their work by the middle of this year. Governance: The Project Board met on 16 December where they were presented with the IT (Case Management System) work plan. Members were also brought up to date on the status of the fit-out for Aldgate Towers. IT: The technical team have completed the workshops across Europe and was very pleased with the number of people who attended and the feedback obtained. Please do keep proving any feedback as it continues to help towards the development of the system. The team is in tentative talks at the moment regarding a possible short presentation of the system in Paris but are awaiting confirmation of a date and place. When this is agreed it will be advertised through the normal routes e.g. Eventbrite, etc. The team is now in the process of refining the front end of the system with advice from members of the Expert Panel and future plans include working with Judges and staff (when appointed) to complete the back end of the Case Management System. We are also working with Kevin Mooney from Simmonds & Simmonds regarding inputs/outputs to the Case Management System, as well as stress testing the system. A reminder that if you have not registered onto the case management system yet, there is still time to do so. You can register here Please provide feedback via the send feedback button at the bottom of the web page. All feedback is gratefully received. Facilities: We are continuing to work on the final design plan for Aldgate Tower and anticipate the construction process to start in the last week of January which we hope to have completed by the end of May. Legal: We are in the final stages of preparing to lay the secondary legislation that will amend the Patent Act 1977 to implement the UPC Agreement. The Government Response to the consultation on the legislation will be published today (15th January) and is available on our website at We aim to have the legislation completed by this spring and expect to lay it in Parliament soon. HR & Judicial Training: Work will intensify on the eligibility options as well as the judicial terms and conditions. We are also moving towards conclusion on the remuneration package, with discussions around pensions now being prioritised. The HR & Judicial Training Working Group is meeting in Brussels next week. Finance: Work within the Financial work stream is moving apace with the first budget sub group meeting taking place on 18 January, quickly followed by the fees sub group (19 January) and the overarching Finance working group (20 January). As well as the Budget and Fees, also on the agenda 5

6 for the 20th are pensions and social security. Domestically, the case counting report for 2014 has been received and analysis of the figures will now take place. Unitary Patent: At its meeting of 15 December the EPO Select Committee (SC) adopted financial and legal provisions that will enable the EPO to administer the Unitary Patent. These include a Top 4 renewal fee level, rules relating to Unitary Patent Protection, and arrangements for the distribution of renewal fees. This is an important and significant step towards the introduction of Unitary Patent Protection. Details of EPO meetings are published at An official Communiqué of the last Select Committee meeting is available on the EPO website at: Relevant documentation regarding the rules relating to Unitary Patent Protection can be found at: As always, please feel free to forward this note to anybody who may find it useful. Janis Janis Makarewich-Hall Deputy Director, Head of UPC Taskforce Intellectual Property Office 1 st Floor 4 Abbey Orchard Street London SW1P 2HT Tel: +44 (0) Mob: +44 (0) janis.makarewich-hall@ipo.gov.uk 6

7 Unified Patent Court Update: 23 November 2015 Here is the latest on the UPC. We are pleased that the Alpha version of the case management system has been released for testing and is being well received. As mentioned before it is very important that potential users of the system have the opportunity to look at and test the system. I encourage you to help shape the way the system looks and feels, and please provide us with the feedback we need to further develop the system that will work for all potential users of the court. Register and create an account here: To provide feedback please use the 'send feedback' button at the bottom of the web page. All feedback is gratefully received. Preparatory Committee: As I mentioned in my previous update the next meeting is on 7-8 December. The Executive Group (which is the Chairman and working group co-ordinators) met on 19 November to discuss and agree the agenda. At December s meeting it is now expected that the protocol on privileges and immunities will be agreed. There will be further discussions on the rules of the Registry and Administrative Committee. More significant will be a second discussion on judicial salaries and a first on a new proposed court fee, SME support and recoverable costs schedule. There is an ambitious timetable to complete the remainder of work of the Preparatory Committee by the middle of 2016 and a Business Advisor has now been appointed to support the Chair in his role. Finally, at the meeting in December there will be a formal appointment of the Chair and Vice Chair following Paul van Beukering's resignation last month. Governance: The Project Board are next due to meet on 26 November where they will look at the Legal planning and follow up on an assurance review of the overall planning considering any recommendations received. IT: The technical team have recently visited Luxembourg for their latest workshop where the case management system was demonstrated. Feedback received from user testing of the CMS and from recent workshops have resulted in the following updates: Support for lists of European Patent Attorneys Updates to the Graphic User Interface making it easier to navigate the site Capability search for opt-out Updates to the Graphic User Interface to distinguish between the different roles A reminder that you can register here to find out for yourself: 7

8 The team will be giving a demonstration of the system at a morning session in Munich on 2 December. Spaces for this are filling up fast so if you are interested in attending please register here. If you would like further details on the IT technical team's progress, providing feedback online and future case management releases, please sign up for the UPC e-filing/case management mailing list by following this link: Facilities: Work continues on the design of Aldgate Tower which we expect to be completed by mid- December. It is our plan that construction will begin in January and complete in early Spring. At European level the Facilities working group is meeting next week to discuss how the adopted 18 th draft of the Rules of Procedure will affect how facilities cope with interim procedures, oral hearing and working with interpreters and translators. Legal: We're working on finalising the last changes on the Protocol on Privileges and Immunities ahead of expected adoption at the December Preparatory Committee. We also expect a discussion of the Rules of Procedure for the Advisory Committee. The rules for arbitration and mediation continue to be reviewed ahead of their anticipated adoption in December. HR & Judicial Training: The Working Group continues its focus on the judicial terms and conditions. The next meeting has been scheduled for 20 November. Finance: Negotiations on a revised proposal on court fees, recoverable costs and SME support to go to the Preparatory Committee in December are near conclusion. Comments from the Preparatory Committee will be reviewed in the New Year and a further proposal will be passed for Agreement at the February meeting. The Expert Panel continue their work on the Guidelines to assess case value which will also be presented to the Preparatory Committee in February. Unitary Patent: The EPO Select Committee (SC) met on 17 November to continue discussion on distribution of renewal income, and draft rules relating to fees. The Committee adopted a proposal on distribution arrangements. It will meet again in December to continue the discussion on rules relating to fees. The chair of the SC is aiming to finalise the remaining issues around Unitary Patent Protection by the end of the year. Details of EPO meetings are published at An official Communiqué of the last Select Committee meeting is available on the EPO website at: As always, please feel free to forward this note to anybody who may find it useful. Janis Janis Makarewich-Hall Deputy Director, Head of UPC Taskforce Intellectual Property Office 1 st Floor 4 Abbey Orchard Street London SW1P 2HT Tel: +44 (0) Mob: +44 (0) janis.makarewich-hall@ipo.gov.uk 8

9 Unified Patent Court Update: 5 November 2015 Here is the latest on the UPC. As most of you know the Intellectual Property Office has been developing the UPC s case management system. We re pleased that the Alpha version of the case management system has now been released for testing. It is very important that potential users of the system have the opportunity to look at and test the system. I encourage you to help shape the way the system looks and feels, and to provide us with the feedback we need to further develop the system. Please do register and create an account here: To provide feedback please use the 'send feedback' button at the bottom of the web page. Preparatory Committee: The next meeting of the Preparatory Committee has been confirmed for 7 and 8 December. The Executive Group will meet ahead of this on 19 November in Brussels to agree the agenda. We expect that the Preparatory Committee s work programme will be published with meeting dates which will be helpful in terms of planning and transparency. I will inform you in a future update when the programme is available. An update on the last meeting of the Preparatory Committee, on 19 October, is available here: Governance: The project board met last week on 28 October. The Board discussed the latest on judicial terms and conditions and the design plans for Aldgate Tower, as well as reviewing the project risks. IT: The technical team have just returned from the latest user workshop, demonstrating the system, which took place in Stockholm. Feedback from users following the session and from the judges' panel last week in Venice has been incredibly positive. A reminder that you can register here to find out for yourself: A further user workshop in Rome has been scheduled for 10 December. If you would like further details on the user workshops, the IT technical team's progress, providing feedback online and future case management releases, please sign up for the UPC e-filing/case management mailing list by following this link: Facilities: The team continue development of the fit out design, working closely with our design and construction specialists. 9

10 Legal: The Rules of Procedure, agreed at the last Preparatory Committee meeting, have been published and are available here: unified-patent-court-rules-of-procedure The team continue to review the rules for arbitration and mediation ahead of anticipated adoption in December. HR & Judicial Training: The Working Group continues its focus on the judicial terms and conditions. The next meeting has been scheduled for 20 November. Finance: Negotiations on court fees, recoverable costs and SME support continue ahead of a draft schedule being discussed by the Preparatory Committee in December. There was a meeting last week of the Finance Working Group in Paris where progress was made on updating existing indicative costs for the Court and on a planned study into pension arrangements for the UPC. Unitary Patent: The next meeting of the EPO Select Committee (SC) is on 17 November where discussion on distribution of renewal income and other financial matters will continue. The SC chair is aiming to finalise discussion on the financial aspects of the UP by the end of the year. Details of EPO meetings are published at An official Communiqué of the last Select Committee meeting is available on the EPO website at: As always, please feel free to forward this note to anybody who may find it useful. Janis Janis Makarewich-Hall Deputy Director, Head of UPC Taskforce Intellectual Property Office 1 st Floor 4 Abbey Orchard Street London SW1P 2HT Tel: +44 (0) Mob: +44 (0) janis.makarewich-hall@ipo.gov.uk 10

11 Unified Patent Court Update: 27 October 2015 I am pleased to let you know that today a milestone was reached with the publication of 18th Draft of the Rules of Procedure (ROP) of the Unified Patent Court. ( These rules outline how the Court will operate and form a key part of the training programme for the Judges representing the UPC. The publication follows a rigorous process of development and collaboration between the Preparatory Committee's Legal working group and the Drafting Committee which underpins the Court's framework and functioning. The work has benefitted tremendously from comments from stakeholders submitted during the written consultation and the oral hearing and we would like to thank you all for your input so far. It is expected that there may be technical amendments to allow for the addition of outstanding rules (for example: court fees/mediation and arbitration) before formal adoption by the Administrative Committee. As always, please feel free to forward this note to anybody who may find it useful. Janis Janis Makarewich-Hall Deputy Director, Head of UPC Taskforce Intellectual Property Office 1 st Floor 4 Abbey Orchard Street London SW1P 2HT Tel: +44 (0) Mob: +44 (0) janis.makarewich-hall@ipo.gov.uk 11

12 Unified Patent Court Update: 20 October 2015 Here is the latest on the UPC. Preparatory Committee: The Preparatory Committee met yesterday on 19 October. The agenda included discussion of the Privileges and Immunities Protocol, which is hoped will be concluded shortly, a summary of the court fee consultations, and a further discussion of the rules on mediation and arbitration. The Preparatory Committee formally adopted the Rules of Procedure, subject to inclusion of the fees rules and any technical amendments that might be needed, which once concluded, will be published on the UPC website. I will let you know in a future update once they are available. A special thank you to Kevin Mooney who chaired the expert drafting committee and pulled this all together. The next meeting of the Preparatory Committee was confirmed for 7 and 8 December. The agenda will focus on the HR and Judicial Training work program and is anticipated to include judicial salaries & allowances for agreement, services regulations, recruitment process and admin staff for discussion. The Chair Paul van Beukering also announced that he was stepping down from the Committee. This is for personal reasons and he made a proposal to the Committee that Alexander Ramsay continue as acting-chair until it is confirmed by members at their December meeting. A vice-chair will also be confirmed in December. Governance: The Project Board meet next on Wednesday 28 October. The IT, Finance and Facilities Sub-groups all met in the last fortnight. IT: The technical team are currently in Bologna working with the case management system suppliers, Net Service, preparing the system for the mock trial and demonstration at the Judges Panel in Venice later this week. The team and the suppliers will attend the panel; delivering a number of presentations and demonstrations of the system along with providing the system for use during the mock trial and for the judiciary to user test and provide live feedback to the suppliers. A further user workshop in the Netherlands has been scheduled. If you would like further details on the user workshops, the IT technical team's progress, providing feedback online and future case management releases, please sign up for the UPC e-filing/case management mailing list by following this link: Facilities: We continue our work with design specialists on the fit out design for the London location for the court. We attended the Facilities Working Group teleconference last week, on Thursday 8 October. The meeting began discussions on preferred arrangements for some procedural issues - in 12

13 particular interpretation and translation arrangements and how to assure a common standard. Legal: The team have been busy reviewing the latest draft of the Rules of Procedure, in the lead up to their adoption at yesterday s Preparatory Committee. The team have also begun analysis of the rules for arbitration and mediation ahead of anticipated adoption in December. Preparations for laying legislation to amend the Patents Act are going well and I hope to be able to give more news on the legislative timetable soon. HR & Judicial Training: The HR Working Group is meeting today, Tuesday 20 October in Brussels. The meeting s focus is on the judicial salary package and remuneration, which is anticipated to be tabled for a first discussion at the December Preparatory Committee. Finance: Negotiations on the court fees continue with a meeting taking place in London last week on Thursday 15 October and two further meetings planned. This is in preparation for a revised a revised fee structure for substantive discussion at the December Preparatory Committee. The Finance Working Group meets next on 28 October. The agenda includes court fees, tax and social security, finance systems and case volume. Research: We have begun a new case counting exercise to count the number of patents cases for After a competitive tendering exercise the contract was awarded to Powell Gilbert. Amongst other things, data from this exercise will be used to determine the UK's financial contributions for the Court. Unitary Patent: The EPO Select Committee met last week on 13 and 14 October. Discussions focused on the proposed distribution key for the Unitary Patent. The Committee also gave an opinion on the draft Rules relating to Fees for Unitary Patent Protection. It is intended to present both items for decision at the next meeting of the Select Committee on the 17 November. Details of EPO meetings are published at An official Communiqué of the last Select Committee meeting is available on the EPO website at: As always, please feel free to forward this note to anybody who may find it useful. 13

14 Janis Janis Makarewich-Hall Deputy Director, Head of UPC Taskforce Intellectual Property Office 1 st Floor 4 Abbey Orchard Street London SW1P 2HT Tel: +44 (0) Mob: +44 (0) janis.makarewich-hall@ipo.gov.uk 14

15 Unified Patent Court Update: 2 October 2015 Here is the latest on the UPC. Preparatory Committee: In the margins of the Competitiveness Council meeting yesterday a major step was taken towards bringing the Unified Patent Court into operation when the Provisional Application Protocol was signed. Our Minister Baroness Neville-Rolfe attended to sign on behalf of the UK. The UPC Preparatory Committee also announced a commitment to conclude all preparatory work by June 2016 with the court opening for business at the start of The announcement can be found in full on the UPC here: The next Preparatory Committee meeting is on 19 October. The agenda includes agreement on the Privileges and Immunities Protocol, adoption of the Rules of Procedure, a summary of the court fee consultations and a further discussion of the rules on mediation and arbitration. Governance: The Project Board met on Wednesday 30 September. The Board discussed the court fee consultation and discussed project risks. The Steering Board also met on Wednesday. The agenda included an update on the fees work, a look at the Preparatory Committee s work program for the coming months and discussion on meditation and arbitration. IT: The technical team have just returned from Berlin after meeting with the registrar's group to answer their questions and better understand their expectations. 15

16 Initial feedback of the Case Management System is encouraging and very positive with the first user workshop and a presentation to the Expert Panel (demonstrating the system) have been completed. We hope to give public access to a beta system soon. We also continue to work on options for processing payments through the CMS system If you would be interested in further information on the IT technical team's progress, providing feedback online, future case management releases, including the user workshops, please sign up for the UPC e-filing/case management mailing list by following this link: Facilities: We continue to work with suppliers on finalising the design for the fit-out of the London court. An article of the recent UPC event is available on the IPO website here: Legal: The team have been busy preparing for the signing of the Provisional Application Protocol. HR & Judicial Training: The HR working Group met on Tuesday in Brussels. The group worked through the latest version of the staff regulations. Good progress was made and the group remain on course to provide a final draft of the regulations to the Preparatory Committee in December. The coordination of the Working Group is moving from Oliver Varhelyi to Gyorgy Kozma. Discussions on judicial remuneration are expected to be completed by the end of the year. Finance: The Court Fees Sub-group has begun to discuss in earnest the various points raised during the consultation. A teleconference was held early this week and regular meetings are scheduled between now and the end of October. Amongst the Sub-Group's considerations are various points raised by the Expert Panel both at their meeting on 18 September and in subsequent written comments. Unitary Patent: The next meeting of the EPO Select Committee will take place on 13 and 14 October. Details of EPO meetings are published at An official Communiqué of the last Select Committee meeting is available on the EPO website at: As always, please feel free to forward this note to anybody who may find it useful. 16

17 Janis Janis Makarewich-Hall Deputy Director, Head of UPC Taskforce Intellectual Property Office 1 st Floor 4 Abbey Orchard Street London SW1P 2HT Tel: +44 (0) Mob: +44 (0) janis.makarewich-hall@ipo.gov.uk 17

18 Unified Patent Court Update: 17 September 2015 Here is the latest on the UPC. Preparatory Committee: There is an Executive Group meet tomorrow morning to discuss the Privileges & Immunities Protocol and to confirm the agenda for the 12th meeting of the Preparatory Committee, scheduled for 19 October. In the afternoon the Expert Panel will have their third meeting where they will have a presentation of the Case Management System from the IT Working Group. There will also be a discussion on the summary of responses following the court fee consultation with members of the Joint Fee Sub-group and a brief discussion on emerging proposals on a Code of Conduct being developed for representatives with business professionals including EPLAW, EPLIT and epi. This is at an early stage and I will share more information as I receive it. Governance: The Project Board s next meeting is on Wednesday 30 September. The four sub-groups of the Project Board all met in the last week. IT: Wednesday 9 September saw us kick off the Case Management System roadshow with the first workshop/demonstration in London. This was hosted by Allen & Overy to who we extend our thanks for their support and help in setting this up. Attendees were given an overview of the UPC and some background history on the work carried out on the prototype in This was quickly followed by a demonstration of the opt-out and withdrawal opt-out forms. A suggestion was for us to provide a roadmap of features and forms being introduced into the system; which we are now working on and, once available, will send out to everyone who has subscribed to the UPC mailing list. The workshops continue and If you would be interested in further information on the IT technical team's progress, providing feedback online, future case management releases, including the user workshops, please sign up for the UPC e-filing/case management mailing list by following this link: 18

19 Facilities: As announced in a recent update, the IPO has signed a lease for space in Aldgate Tower to host the UPC in London Securing this building has been a great step towards bringing the UPC into effect, ensuring the success of the Court and the UK s involvement. To recognise achieving this significant milestone, our Minister Baroness Neville-Rolfe, hosted a small reception at Aldgate Tower. The reception was an opportunity for the Minister to thank some of the people who have been extremely generous with their time; both helping and advising the IPO during the process of selecting the facility for the court in London, and offering their wider support to the IPO on UPC issues. Legal: The European Patent Litigators Certificate (EPLC), agreed at the recent Preparatory Committee, has been published and is available here: Further detail of the event will be available in an article on the IPO website expected to be published tomorrow: Discussions on the Protocol for Provisional Application have been concluded and preparations are now underway for formal signing in early October. HR & Judicial Training: Training of potential future judges continues. 19

20 The next HR working group has been confirmed for 28 September and will focus on a revised draft of the staff regulations. Finance: Last week we attended a very good meeting of the Court Fees Sub-group in Stockholm. An extensive summary and list of key points from the consultation were discussed and agreed. These drafts will now be discussed more widely, including at the Expert Panel meeting tomorrow and at next Preparatory Committee. The Group will then work through the various suggestions and look to revise as necessary. Unitary Patent: The meeting of the EPO select committee that was scheduled for September has been postponed. It will now take place on 13 and 14 October. This should enable Italy, who have submitted a requested to join the Unitary Patent system, to participate as a full member in the remaining discussions within the select committee. Details of EPO meetings are published at An official Communiqué of the last Select Committee meeting is available on the EPO website at: As always, please feel free to forward this note to anybody who may find it useful. Janis Janis Makarewich-Hall Deputy Director, Head of UPC Taskforce Intellectual Property Office 1 st Floor 4 Abbey Orchard Street London SW1P 2HT Tel: +44 (0) Mob: +44 (0) janis.makarewich-hall@ipo.gov.uk 20

21 Unified Patent Court Update: 4 September 2015 Here is the latest on the UPC. Preparatory Committee: The Preparatory Committee held its 11 th meeting yesterday Thursday 3 September. The Provisional Application Protocol was discussed and agreed and we expect to be in a position to sign this in October. There was a long discussion about the timetable and the outstanding milestones to be met ahead of the court coming into being. We expect a formal announcement on timing in October. The date for the next Preparatory Committee meeting has been rescheduled to 19 October following a clash with the Select Committee meeting. Once details of the agenda are announced I will let you know. The Expert Panel will have their third meeting in Paris on the 18 September. Governance: The Project Board s next meeting is on Wednesday 30 September. The four sub-groups of the Project Board will all meet in the next fortnight. IT: The technical team have just returned from Net Service's offices in Bologna following extensive planning and preparation of the case management system ahead of the first user workshops in London on 9 September. We will be going through step-by-step the alpha of the opt-out process during these workshops and are keen to engage with potential users of the system and receive feedback on how it works. There will also be an opportunity soon to provide feedback online, similar to the prototype that ran last year. I will update you on this once it is ready. If you would be interested in further information on the IT technical team's progress, providing feedback online, future case management releases, including the user workshops, please sign up for the UPC e-filing/case management mailing list by following this link: Facilities: As announced in our last update, the IPO has signed a lease for space in Aldgate Tower to host the UPC in London Design and build contractors have been appointed and a series of design workshops have been held (and will continue throughout this month) looking at the design for the floor plan ensuring we are meeting regulatory requirements. This is also where we need to ensure we have the proper infrastructure in place for the court systems to work. A project team has been pulled together to deliver this work. Legal: The European Patent Litigators Certificate (EPLC) was agreed at yesterday s Preparatory Committee meeting and will be published shortly on the UPC website: 21

22 HR & Judicial Training: The team continue to negotiate on the judicial salary package with the Working Group and other member states; they are currently analysing methods of judicial part-time working to ensure that the UPC judicial cadre is appropriately remunerated and fully utilised. The staff terms and conditions have been revised to reflect discussion at the last HR working group, member states including the UK have commented on this revised draft for discussion at the next HR working group, which is anticipated to take place at the end of September. Finance: We have been working through the Court Fees Consultation responses over the summer, following the consultation closing at the end of July. This feeds into the next meeting of the joint Fees Sub-group, on 10 September in Stockholm, which will agree the summary to be provided to the Preparatory Committee in October. The Expert Panel will also discuss this at their meeting on 18 September. Unitary Patent : The EPO Select Committee meets next on 13 and 14 October ( continuing discussions on the remaining details relating to the Unitary Patent. An official Communiqué of the last Select Committee meeting is available on the EPO website at: As always, please feel free to forward this note to anybody who may find it useful. Janis Janis Makarewich-Hall Deputy Director, Head of UPC Taskforce Intellectual Property Office 1 st Floor 4 Abbey Orchard Street London SW1P 2HT Tel: +44 (0) Mob: +44 (0) janis.makarewich-hall@ipo.gov.uk 22

23 Unified Patent Court Update: 11 August 2015 I wanted to draw your attention to the announcement today on the London location of the Unified Patent Court. Further information about Aldgate Tower can be found here: I am pleased to tell you that we signed a lease today for the 8th floor of Aldgate Tower. Aldgate Tower represents a good value location within Central London on the edge of the City and close to the legal district, with excellent transport links (domestically and internationally). As this is a new building the space we have secured offers us flexibility allowing a modern and functional fit-out. Building work is expected to begin later in the year, and the facility is due to be completed before Spring Baroness Neville-Rolfe says: "The signing of this lease represents a milestone in the UK s preparations for the introduction of the Unified Patent Court. Aldgate Tower, with its superb central location, will provide an ideal home for a modern court to support the UK s and Europe s leading edge innovative companies. This will further strengthen UK s legal and professional services sector, and reinforce London s status as a world leading centre for dispute resolution." As always, please feel free to forward this note to anybody who may find it useful. Janis Janis Makarewich-Hall Deputy Director, Head of UPC Taskforce Intellectual Property Office 1 st Floor 4 Abbey Orchard Street London SW1P 2HT Tel: +44 (0) Mob: +44 (0) janis.makarewich-hall@ipo.gov.uk 23

24 Unified Patent Court Update: 16 July 2015 Here is the latest on the UPC. This will be my last update until early September as Europe tends to be quieter in this period allowing people, including members of the Taskforce, to take much needed breaks. UPC Consultation on the Rules on Court Fees The Preparatory Committee's consultation on court fees remains open until the 31 st of July. It can be found on the Preparatory Committee's website ( I would encourage you and your organisations to respond and make your views known. Preparatory Committee: The Preparatory Committee met Friday 10 July. The 18 th draft of the Rules of Procedure was discussed and we expect it to return to the October meeting for agreement. There was widespread praise for the work done to get it to this stage. The Protocol for Privileges & Immunities and the operating costs of the court were discussed and will return in October. There was agreement for an MOU with the ISRP to provide their service for pensions and social security to the court. The Provisional Application timetable was discussed and will return to a meeting in early September for agreement along with the staff regulations which are back with the HR & Judicial Training Working Group to finalise ahead of the meeting. The date for the meeting in October has been confirmed for 13 October. Governance: The Project Board meet next on Wednesday 29 July. The Board will have a status report from the HR and Training and Facilities workstreams and an initial planning discussion for a review of the project governance in the autumn. The Sub-groups of the Project Board all met this week. IT: The initial kick off meetings with the successful suppliers took place last week and work is now underway. Our technical lead is now out in Italy with the case management system suppliers confirming the detail of the initial planning work. One of the priorities within the case management system is the opt-out process and this will be the first form to be addressed. Alongside this investigations are underway to provide an interim payment provider until the court has its legal entity and a functional finance system. To assist us with this a specialist financial solutions architect has joined the team for three months. The team, along with the case management system supplier, are meeting with the EPO technical team next week to further discuss requirements for the technical process of the opt-out. 24

25 A number of user workshops over the autumn and across Europe have been confirmed. The workshops are aimed at refining requirements and testing the CMS. To sign up for the event in London and for further details on the other events please follow this link: Facilities: The team have been giving further consideration to the optimum specification level for the facility. Legal: The Legal Sub-group met earlier this afternoon. Discussion focussed on the 18 th Draft of the Rules of Procedure which we expect to be adopted at the October Preparatory Committee. The EPLC is still to be agreed and I will inform you once it is published on the UPC website. HR & Judicial Training: The team are reviewing the new draft of the staff terms and conditions following their return to the Working Group. Sweden made a proposal at Preparatory Committee to use an online recruitment tool which is now with the HR and Training Working Group to consider. Finance: On Monday 6 July, Burness Paull kindly hosted our second event on the Court Fees consultation, this time in Edinburgh. The topics covered in the presentations were the same as the earlier event in London, but it was interesting to note that many of the issues raised in the Q & A discussions were different. Amongst these issues were the option of a "pay as you go" system rather than reimbursements (as suggested in Alternative 1), comparisons to the German value based fee system and the complexity of the Application to determine damages. Compromises for SME support and the impact of the fee structure on non practicing entities were also raised, as they were in London. We are very grateful to our hosts, speakers and participants for their contributions to providing us with further invaluable insight on what to expect in the consultation responses. Unitary Patent: The EPO Select Committee meets again on 16 and 17 September to continue discussions on the remaining details relating to the Unitary Patent. An official Communiqué of the last Select Committee meeting is available on the EPO website at: As always, please feel free to forward this note to anybody who may find it useful. Janis Janis Makarewich-Hall Deputy Director, Head of UPC Taskforce Intellectual Property Office 1 st Floor 4 Abbey Orchard Street London SW1P 2HT Tel: +44 (0) Mob: +44 (0) janis.makarewich-hall@ipo.gov.uk 25

26 Unified Patent Court Update: 2 July 2015 Here is the latest on the UPC. UPC Consultation on the Rules on Court Fees The Preparatory Committee's consultation on court fees remains open until the 31 st of July. It can be found on the Preparatory Committee's website ( We, along with CIPA and the IP Federation, are hosting an awareness raising event in Scotland on Monday 6th July at 4:30pm at the Burness Paull offices in Edinburgh: There s still time to join and if you would like to attend please follow this link and RSVP: I would like to go to the event in Edinburgh; I look forward to seeing those attending there. Preparatory Committee: The next meeting of the Preparatory Committee is on Friday 10 July. The agenda has been issued and a key topic for adoption is the provisional application proposal and its timetable. If this is adopted I will give you more details of the timetable in my next update. The agenda will also cover the protocol on privileges and immunities, specifically to discuss the legal text necessary for any changes needed in domestic laws. There will also be a report from the HR & Training co-ordinator on the progress to date on the work around judicial salaries and terms and conditions. Governance: The Project Board met this week on Wednesday 1 July. Ahead of the Preparatory Committee the Board discussed judicial remuneration and received a status report on the IT workstream, more details of this work can be found below. IT: The ITT evaluations are complete and the successful suppliers (subject to contract signing) are Net Service for the Case Management System (CMS), Miggle for the Website and T-Systems for the Hosting. The team met with Net Service and T-Systems this week to discuss the plans for the CMS over coming months and will meet with Miggle and T-Systems next week to do the same on the website. A number of user workshops over the autumn and across Europe have been confirmed. The workshops are aimed at refining requirements and testing the CMS. To sign up for the event in London and for further details on the other events please follow this link: Facilities: The Preparatory Committee will be considering and hopefully agreeing elements of facilities operational functions that will be the responsibility of Member States or of the UPC itself. This is important in defining what the UPC will be responsible for and what Member States will be expected to provide. 26