Location selected for London branch of Unified Patent Court

Aldgate Tower, the new location of the London part of the Unified Patent Court

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) of the UK reports that they have selected a location for the London section of the Unified Patent Court. The new court will be located in Aldgate Tower in London. 

At a recent unitary patent conference the UK informed that they would complete ratification of the unified patent court agreement by spring 2016. I interpret this announcement of a location as a confirmation that indeed the preparations for the unified patent court are continuing in the UK. There has been uncertainty on the UK's position on the unitary patent because of its current ambivalence towards the EU.  However, at present there seems to be no indication that the preparations of the UK for the unitary patent are anything different than planned.

The unified patent court has a rather complicated structure. In addition to local and regional divisions, the unified patent court will also have a central division. The central division of the Unified Patent Court will have its seat in Paris, with sections in London and Munich. The local division of UK will also be located in Aldgate Tower.

The central division will have sole jurisdiction for a number of actions. For example, direct actions for revocation of a patent shall be brought before the central division. The cases are divided over the three sections of the central division based on the subject matter of the case. For London these are Chemistry, metallurgy and Human necessities.

IPO Minister, Baroness Neville-Rolfe said today:
"The signing of this lease represents a milestone in the UK’s preparations for the introduction of the Unified Patent Court. Aldgate Tower, with its superb central location, will provide an ideal home for a modern court to support the UK’s and Europe’s leading edge innovative companies. This will further strengthen UK’s legal and professional services sector, and reinforce London’s status as a world leading centre for dispute resolution."
Photo "Aldgate Tower - London" by Jim Linwood obtained via Flickr under a CC-By license. The photo has been cropped.

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