Application of Revised Rules on Jurisdiction under Brussels I Regulation to patent lawsuits.

The future European jurisdiction for patent infringement lawsuits based on European patents—initially optionally—and based on the unitary patent will change the nature of the court structure in Europe. The Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (the ‘UPC Agreement’), which will create the new court, had to be harmonized with the Brussels I Regulation which also regulates European jurisdiction for patent infringement lawsuits. Regulation 1215/2012 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters had already been significantly amended. The revision of the recast Brussels I Regulation, which took place through Regulation 542/2014 on the amendment of Regulation 1215/2012, took effect on 30 May 2014. From 10 January 2015 onwards the core rules on jurisdiction set out in those Regulations apply to patent disputes. The time has definitely come to consider the future of European patent infringement proceedings. The revised Brussels I Regulation creates a law that is unusual in Europe and in relation to foreign parties, at least in the form of statutory provisions. In relations with Switzerland, the Lugano Convention will have to be adjusted. Equal treatment of the countries party to the Lugano Convention with Member States of the EU is one of the demands made in the present article. This article also seeks to introduce readers to the imminent changes in the law and to point out problems. The lively more recent case law of the CJEU concerning cross-border infringements will not be discussed for reasons of length. However, it must be incorporated into the new scheme of things. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]