News that agreement has at last been reached over the location of the European Patent Court has been widely welcomed. The court will be divided between Paris, London and Munich, with headquarters in Paris, a pharmaceuticals and chemicals specialist division based in London and a mechanical engineering division based in Munich. Importantly, the European Council bowed to the British demand that the court should not be subject to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice, a move welcomed by the CBI.

Matthew Fell, CBI director for competitive markets (pictured), said: "Businesses will be reassured that the European Patent scheme will not fall under the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice, because of the risks involved in a non-specialised court having a say in decisions over their intellectual property."

He continued: "Securing a high-quality patent system was always the main priority for businesses, rather than squabbling over the location of the patent court. The move to split the European patent court between Paris, London and Munich seems a sensible compromise, and will draw on the UK's expertise in life sciences."

Liberal Democrat MEP Sharon Bowles, who is the Parliament's only European patent attorney, said: "The proposed compromise to split the new court across three different countries and cities – namely Munich, Paris and London – is a workable solution and will ultimately be a big boost to all involved.

"Patents have always fallen into various categories such as chemical and engineering with different basic problems. So separation by subject matter is no problem as clusters of experience will easily align with this."