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<font size="-1">hope nobody missed this</font><br>
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<th valign="BASELINE" align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap">Subject: </th>
<td>[The IPKat] Unitary patents: how Spain takes on the rest
of Europe</td>
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<th valign="BASELINE" align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap">Date: </th>
<td>Mon, 11 Jul 2011 10:55:58 -0700 (PDT)</td>
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<th valign="BASELINE" align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap">From: </th>
<td>Jeremy <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:jjip@btinternet.com"><jjip@btinternet.com></a></td>
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<td><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:jjip@btinternet.com">jjip@btinternet.com</a></td>
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<th valign="BASELINE" align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap">To: </th>
<td><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:ipkat_readers@googlegroups.com">ipkat_readers@googlegroups.com</a></td>
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<br>
<div style="text-align: right;"><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JSgGP5tKaRQ/Ths4_RFoQwI/AAAAAAAASRg/Ksn_1hoZo5U/s1600/wain.jpg"
imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right;
margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img
moz-do-not-send="true"
src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JSgGP5tKaRQ/Ths4_RFoQwI/AAAAAAAASRg/Ksn_1hoZo5U/s1600/wain.jpg"
border="0"></a></div>
<b>Casually checking the Curia website for signs of excitement </b>on
a Monday is usually a bit of a waste of time. This Kat was prowling
around the site in the hope that perhaps some careless bureaucrat
had inadvertently posted tomorrow's ruling in Case C-324/09 <i>
L’Oréal v eBay</i> a day early. The Kat's curiosity was rewarded
-- but not in the way he'd hoped. Instead he found a real live
action brought by the Spanish against our lords and masters in the
Council of the European Union itself: <b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://curia.europa.eu/jurisp/cgi-bin/form.pl?lang=en&newform=newform&Submit=Submit&alljur=alljur&jurcdj=jurcdj&jurtpi=jurtpi&jurtfp=jurtfp&alldocrec=alldocrec&docj=docj&docor=docor&docdecision=docdecision&docop=docop&docppoag=docppoag&docav=docav&docsom=docsom&docinf=docinf&alldocnorec=alldocnorec&docnoj=docnoj&docnoor=docnoor&radtypeord=on&typeord=ALL&docnodecision=docnodecision&allcommjo=allcommjo&affint=affint&affclose=affclose&numaff=274%2F11&ddatefs=&mdatefs=&ydatefs=&ddatefe=&mdatefe=&ydatefe=&nomusuel=&domaine=&mots=&resmax=100">Case
C-274/11</a></b> <i>Kingdom of Spain v Council of the European
Union,</i> to be precise. This is an action to annul <b><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2011:076:0053:0055:en:PDF">Council
Decision 2011/167</a></b> of 10 March 2011 authorising enhanced
cooperation in the area of the creation of unitary patent protection
(OJ 2011 L 76, p. 53). The legal substance of the Spanish case runs
like this:<br>
<blockquote>"<b>Pleas in law and main arguments </b></blockquote>
<blockquote>1. Misuse of powers since recourse was had to enhanced
cooperation although the purpose is not to achieve integration of
all the Member States - the mechanism having been used instead to
avoid negotiating with a Member State, imposing upon it an opt-out
solution - and although the objectives pursued in this instance
could have been achieved by means of a special agreement as
provided for in Article 142 of the <b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.epo.org/law-practice/legal-texts/html/epc/2010/e/ma1.html">European
Patent Convention</a></b>. </blockquote>
<blockquote>2. Failure to respect the judicial system of the EU in
that no dispute resolution system is provided for in relation to
certain legal rights subject to EU law. </blockquote>
<blockquote>3. In the alternative, should the Court find that it is
appropriate in this instance to have recourse to enhanced
cooperation and that it is possible to establish substantive rules
for legal rights subject to EU law without making provision for a
dispute resolution system in relation to those rights, the Kingdom
of Spain submits that the necessary conditions for enhanced
cooperation are not met for the following reasons: </blockquote>
<blockquote>3.1 infringement of Article 20(1) <b><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2008:115:0013:0045:EN:PDF">TEU
</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">(that's
the Treaty on European Union, not to be confused with ...)</span></b>,
since in this instance enhanced cooperation is not a last resort
and does not fulfil the objectives provided for in the TEU and
since areas are referred to which are not within the scope of
enhanced cooperation as they are exclusive competence of the EU. </blockquote>
<blockquote>3.2 infringement of Article 326 <b><span
class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">(... the Treaty
on the Functioning of the European Union)</span></b> <b><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2010:083:0047:0200:en:PDF">TFEU</a></b>,
since enhanced cooperation in this instance infringes the
principle of non-discrimination and undermines the internal market
and economic, social and territorial cohesion, constituting
discrimination in trade between Member States and distorting
competition between them. </blockquote>
<blockquote>3.3 infringement of Article 327 TFEU, since the enhanced
cooperation does not respect the rights of the Kingdom of Spain,
which is not participating in it".</blockquote>
Spain has taken on the rest of Europe before -- <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_2008"><b>winning in
commendable style</b></a> -- but this is different, notes the
IPKat: it's not the other bits of Europe that Spain is challenging
this time, so much as the rules of the game themselves. Hmm, says
Merpel, the politics gets really interesting once you bring football
into it. Spain's prowess is, to a considerable extent, owed to the
excellence of a team from Catalonia, the little of the planet that
uses the .cat top level domain.
<br>
<br>
--<br>
Posted By Jeremy to <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2011/07/unitary-patents-how-spain-takes-on-rest.html">The
IPKat</a> on 7/11/2011 06:55:00 PM
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