Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Setting up a local unitary patent court in Ireland will offer users an accessible, cost-effective and more efficient option for broad patent protection and dispute settlement across Europe. Businesses will defend or challenge a patent via a single litigation process rather than costly litigation in each individual member state. Savings for businesses will be significant in this area. That is why, in June of last year, the Government reaffirmed its commitment to participate in the unitary patent system and the Unified Patent Court and to hold a referendum to enable Ireland to do that.

The preparatory work under way includes drafting a constitutional amendment Bill, along with a regulatory impact assessment. Amendments to the national patent legislation will also be required to recognise both the new unitary patent and the Unified Patent Court agreement. A local division of the Unified Patent Court will be created in Ireland if the State ratifies the agreement under which the court is established. Preparations involve engaging with the Department of Justice on the establishment of a new court and with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage regarding the work of the electoral commission on the referendum that would be needed. A communications campaign is being devised and an oversight committee, comprising the key stakeholders, is being established to support the work.

The simplified and much cheaper system of patent protection will make it easier, particularly for micro and small businesses, to export to more EU countries, and protect their IP while doing it. Businesses in other participating member states will have access to their own local patent court and we want to ensure that our companies have that same beneficial access here in Ireland.

To give a practical sense of the money savings involved, the current estimate for a company is that it will cost less than €4,700 to maintain a unitary patent for an average lifetime of ten years under the new system, if it is validated across the 24 participating member states, whereas it currently costs about €30,000 today, without this new system. There are very significant savings for Irish businesses. Let us not forget our businesses are reliant on export markets, predominantly within the European Union, for their growth stories. This is a very important piece of work that we need to get done.

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