The UK Implements the Unitary Patent – Statutory Instrument passed

The IPKat reports that the draft Statutory Instrument implementing the Unitary Patent was approved by the House of Commons on 1 March and the House of Lords on 2 March. The Hansard report according to IPKat reveals that the discussion in the House of Commons lasted precisely 16 minutes. Edward Vaizey, Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy, stated that the “new court and patent will be ready for business in early 2017”.

He also speculated  in relation to a possible UK exit from the EU: “if we left Europe as a result of the referendum, I suspect it would be a decision for the UK Government whether they wanted to rejoin the European patent court. Of course, we would have to rely on our European partners to decide whether the UK could be a member.”

Read the entire report on the IPKat here.