Unified Patent Court
Baroness Wilcox, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Business, Innovation and Skills , will be quizzed by the Lords Justice and Institutions EU Sub-Committee on Wednesday in a one-off evidence session on the proposal to create a Unified Patent Court, which is going ahead despite the opposition of Spain and Italy to the Court's proposed language regime.
The Committee will ask the Intellectual Property Minister for her views on issues such as:
- whether the Government agrees that the complex proposals will act as a disincentive to businesses and hamper the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises;
- the costs and sources of expertise of the Court, given that it will seek to employ almost 150 judges by 2022; and
- the prospect of success for the proposal in the light of almost unanimous opposition from stakeholders to the involvement of the Court of Justice of the European Union in patent law.
The evidence session will take place at 3.45pm, Wednesday 15 February in Committee Room 2 of the House of Lords.
The evidence session is open to media and the public. Please allow time for security screening.
The evidence session will also be broadcast live on Parliament TV.