As a result of the International Agreement on a Unified Patent Court by the EU in 2013, Ireland is to establish its own Patent Court. The Agreement has been signed by 25 EU countries with the aim of simplifying the patent process by allowing a European Patent with unitary effect (unitary patent) allowing applications for a single patent that will be valid in all 25 Member States. It is expected the new court will open in 2016 once Ireland has ratified the new agreement. In addition the Unified Patent Court will mean that patent actions can now be filed under a single litigation rather than on a country-by-country basis. Upon making the announcement, the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation said that the Court will benefit businesses as patent disputes will be resolved more cheaply, easily and locally than previously.A full copy of the press release is available to view here.
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