There were disconcerting signs last week that IP lawyers and judges across Europe might finally agree on the future of a unified patent court – with the European Patent Lawyers Association playing a key role in thrashing out the draft proposals.
The body lured some of the UK’s biggest legal wigs – including Lord Hoffman and Lord Justice Jacob – to a plush retreat on the Venetian island of San Servolo, which is hidden in a secluded lagoon and can only be reached (and, perhaps tellingly, exited) by hydrofoil.
