Tuesday, May 05, 2015 Internet consultation started for Dutch unitary patent law

The Netherlands have started the ratification process of the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court. A draft proposal ratifying the agreement is online. The Netherlands have indicated that it wants to be part of the new European patent system from the start. At present, six countries have fully ratified the agreement (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Malta, and Sweden)

In addition to ratifying the agreement also a proposal for amendment of the Dutch Patent act is presented. The proposed amendment brings the Patents Act 1995 in line with the substantive provisions of the agreement, and includes any other adjustments to ensure proper functioning of the European patent with unitary effect. This means that when the amendments and the ratification are done, the Dutch the legislature should be ready for the unitary patent.

Last Friday, May 1st, 2015 the Dutch government launched an Internet consultation for the proposed amendments to the Dutch Patent act.

The consultation period is three weeks, that is, until May 25, 2015. The consultation period has been shortened from the regular 4 weeks so that the bill may be presented for advice to the Raad van State (State Council) before summer. This advice is a required part of amending a law. 

The Internet consultation is online. All text is in Dutch. Should you want to send in a response the Ministry of Economic affairs asks you to make concrete text suggestions and to send in your response as early as possible.