The Unitary Community Patent Protection

It looks like April 13th 2011 is going to be a memorable date for the protection of the industrial property. Indeed, after a long and rough process, the European Commission has released two legislative proposals with the aim of granting the unitary protection to the community patent filed with the European Patent Office ("EPO"). From an Italian point of view, we must clarify that these legislative procedures have been implemented in the context of the enhanced cooperation among 25 EU member states and that, currently, Italy and Spain remain outside this procedure.

1. Current System

The existing forms of protection of inventions applicable in the industrial field are essentially two: a national patent, which can be obtained in Italy from the Italian patent office (Ufficio Italiano Brevetti e Marchi) that grants protection only across the national territory, and the European patent, a first step made in the '70s with the Munich Convention to bypass the costs