Court Of Justice Dismissed Spain’S Actions Against The Creation Of Unitary Patent Protection.

Spain sought the annulment of two regulations implementing enhanced cooperation in the area of the creation of unitary patent protection, i.e. Case C146/13 and C147/13. In the first case, the Court rejected Spain’s argument by pointing out that “the regulation is in no way intended to delimit the conditions for granting EP patents, and that it does not incorporate the procedure for granting EP patents laid down by the EPC into EU law”. As far as the case C147/13 is concerned, the Court acknowledged that the regulation differentiates between the official languages of the EU. However, it emphasized that “the regulation has a legitimate objective, i.e. the creation of a uniform and simple translation regime, so as to facilitate access to patent protection, particularly for small and medium sized enterprises”.