In September 2016 a new judicial system came into operation for examining cases relating to intellectual property, market law and competition law. These types of cases will be processed together in a special court, the Patent and Market Court (first instance) and the Patent and Market Appeal Court (second instance). The Swedish Supreme Court is the last instance. However, appeals will only be lodged with the Swedish Supreme Court, if the Patent and Market Appeal Court grants its authorisation.
As a consequence of the proposed new system, the Court of Patent Appeals and Market Court will cease to exist.
The purpose of this change is to provide a combined judicial system with a closer link to the general judicial system. With regard to the Market Court, it has had the advantage of handling procedures relatively quickly and, in many cases, the Market Court has been the court of both first and last instance.
This change will establish a standard three-instance procedure, although authorisation will be required for cases to be examined at both second and third instance level. The stated intention is to ensure that proceedings in the Patent and Market Court will not take longer than they have done in the Market Court, in any case, not for the types of cases which used to be examined in the Market Court.
Publisher: Sylwan och Fenger-Krog