Insights: Draft SI published for implementing the Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court Agreements

The UK Government has released a draft Statutory Instrument for implementing the Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court Agreements in the UK together with its response to the feedback received following an earlier consultation on the required legislative changes. The draft Statutory Instrument must be approved by both Houses of Parliament and it is therefore possible that this secondary legislation will be amended during the process.

The draft Statutory Instrument amends or adds to the UK Patents Act. Points discussed in the consultation and included in the Statutory Instrument deal with preventing double patenting by UK and Unitary patents, exclusions for computer programs such that the existence of a patent does not prevent the lawful use of the program under existing copyright laws and the applicable jurisdiction in SPC cases. We will report further once the Statutory Instrument is in its final form.

Details of the consultation and its outcome can be found here and the draft Statutory Instrument here.