A working group comprising representatives of the Member States is currently examining the draft regulation of the Unified Patent Court. The 15th draft regulation allows a twin-track procedure in two independently competent courts, one which rules on questions relating to the validity of a patent, the other on questions of breach. This introduces a considerable risk, namely that the Court determining a breach could issue an injunction excluding products from the market before the court with competence over validity has established that the patent is valid, thus penalising European companies even though their behaviour is entirely lawful.

Meanwhile, DG COMP is concerned about abuses of a dominant position by companies which have sought to abuse their patent rights.

In order to avoid the risk of granting injunctions based on invalid patents, will the Commission support the maintenance or the suspension of an injunction until the competent court has ruled on its validity?