The Spanish parliament will vote today on a non-binding motion of the socialist opposition party PSOE, which calls on the government to reconsider joining the Unitary Patent system.
The motion was filed last month by MP Patricia Blanquer. According to Blanquer, Spain should no longer stay on the side-line now that the system is about to launch, expectedly on 1 December 2017. Blanquer pointed out that the opposition to the UP’s language regime, which was the main reason for Spain not to join the UP system, has been in vain as the Court of Justice of the EU dismissed two Spanish and Italian challenges of it, the last time in 2015.
Italy has already changed its mind and joined the system; Spain should follow, according to Blanquer. Or it will be the only EU member state which stays outside the Unitary Patent and the Unified Patent Court, which would be bad for Spanish competitiveness.
Apart from this, the PSOE member of parliament argues Spain should request the relocation of the London branch of the UPC Central Division to Spanish territory, as the UK will be leaving the European Union.
In reaction to the motion, Spanish IP expert Francisco Moreno wrote on his patent blog it wouldn’t be a logical moment for Spain to join the UP system at this moment: ‘The most reasonable thing to do now is to wait and see how the system works, once it finally starts functioning.’
UPDATE 15.15 hours: The parliamentary committee for economics, industry and competitiveness has approved the PSOE motion requesting the government of Spain to reconsider joining the Unitary Patent system. The author of the non-legislative motion, Patricia Blanquer, has just announced this in a tweet. According to IAM Media, the motion received support from all parties, apart from the Partido Popular, which runs the Spanish minority government.
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