On May 13, 2015, the Italian government announced that it will join the Unitary Patent Package, so that the Unitary Patent Regulation and the Languages Regulation will take effect in Italy. This means that the geographical scope of the Unitary Patent will extend to cover Italy. Italy is already a signatory to the Unified Patent Court (UPC) Agreement. The Spanish challenge to these two regulations was rejected by the European Court of Justice on May 5, 2015. …
… This clearly is a political vote of confidence in the Unitary Patent Package by Italy and ultimately a step towards increasing the attractiveness of the Unitary Patent. Validations of “bundle” patents in Italy, requiring a translation of the entire patent, will become less attractive during the transition period allowing opt out. Italy is not member of the London agreement. The resulting significant increase in the geographical coverage of the Unitary Patent will affect the choice between Unitary and “bundle” patents.