A group of MPs has slammed the European Union’s draft agreement on the creation of a centralised court to allow businesses to obtain a low-cost single patent covering 25 European countries.

They said that negotiations have been rushed through, but insist that any such court must be sited in London 'to mitigate the most damaging effects of a unitary EU-wide patent'.

In a report published today, the European Scrutiny Committee (ESC) says that the draft agreement on the Unified Patent Court (UPC) is likely to hinder, rather than help, the enforcement of patents within the EU.

It is also likely to increase litigation costs for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), which were supposed to benefit most from the UPC, while the process as a whole will be more burdensome than the existing UK system, the ESC report says.

ESC chair Conservative MP Bill Cash said: ‘Although the theory of a single EU-wide patent - with a single court to administer it - has long been thought desirable, the practice has long been elusive.

‘These latest proposals appear, regrettably, to be a further example of this. They would increase costs for SMEs and hinder the enforcement of patents within the EU, particularly by giving additional jurisdiction to the Court of Justice of the EU and not allowing the invalidity of a patent to be a defence to infringement proceedings.

‘The negotiations have been rushed and effectively excluded the views of European patent professionals.’

The ESC’s analysis was carried out against a background of vehement opposition to the draft agreement from patent professionals across Europe.

The overall aim of the UPC was to allow SMEs, in particular, to obtain a single patent covering 25 countries at an affordable cost. However, the committee heard that very few SMEs actually require protection in all 25 states and so cost savings would not be as great as was expected, and that litigation before the UPC was likely to be convoluted, expensive and protracted.

The ESC report says that it is vital that the UK government adopts a strong position reflecting the concerns of practitioners in the final negotiations of the agreement, and calls for the UPC to be sited in London to mitigate any damaging effects of a unitary EU-wide patent.