Denmark to vote on unitary patent in referendum on May, 25th

According to the Copenhagen post, Denmark will definitely hold a referendum before joining the unified patent court. The unitary patent requires 13 states to ratify the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court. Denmark is one of the 25 countries that is currently eligible to ratify.

Select Committee discusses compensation scheme for translation costs

At the Epo website there is a short report of the last meeting of the Select Committee on 10 and 11 December 2013.  At the EPO the select committee sets the rules of procedure for handling the unitary patent.

One of the discussed items is the compensation scheme for costs for translations. This scheme is introduced by article 5 of regulation 1260/2012. I can imagine that some if its provisions will cause the EPO some work to implement right.

Level of Renewal fees not expected soon

One of the open question regarding the unitary patent is the level of the fees. Of immediate concern is the level of the renewal fee. After a unitary patent has been granted, one does not pay individual renewals for all participating states, but instead one central renewal fee, to be paid to EPO.

The level of the renewal fee will determine where the break-even point will be, cost-wise, between classic validation and a unitary patent.