European patent court enters final preparatory phase at last

Austrian ratification of legal text kicks off eight-month phase after a decade of struggle

Final preparations to create a single court to rule on disputes over pan-European patents have finally begun, a decade after the plans were signed off.

The final preparatory phase of creating the Unified Patent Court kicked off on 19 January, with the ratification by Austria of a legal protocol underpinning the court. A sufficient number of the 25 EU member states signed up the court have now completed the ratification.