UK Blocks the Unified Patent Court

The Financial Times reports that the "patent deal" which was supposed to be agreed upon at the EU summit today was blocked by the UK.

The constant criticism of the experts in the field, which had found their way into the report of the UK Scrutiny Commitee, appear to finally have reached Mr. Cameron, who surprisingly made a gleam of reason shine in this discussion. As the FT reports:

Mr Cameron offered to withdraw his call for the court to be in London if the European Court of Justice – the EU’s highest court – were stripped of ultimate jurisdiction over Europe’s reformed patent system.

This offer was preceded by van Rompuy's proposal to split the court into three parts - the central division being located in Paris and two other divisions in London and Munich respectively and by a Franco-German deal to cut out London, which was allegedly agreed by Mr Hollande and Ms Merkel on Wednesday night (see the FT article).

Latest News: As reported on the IPKat and here (via the reliable german press ageny DPA), van Rompuy's compromise has now been adopted. Further, according to this source, the London branch will deal with the administrative matters and the substantive jurisdiction will be distributed based on the technical field over the 3 cities.