The Unitary Patent (UP) system is a planned future system for patent protection within (part of) the EU. Under the system, unitary effect can be requested for European patents which have been granted by the European Patent Office (EPO). A patent with unitary effect, or Unitary Patent, is intended to provide protection in up to 26 EU Member States and will not have to be validated in every single state. A Unified Patent Court (UPC) will have exclusive competence in respect of Unitary Patents (as well – after a transitional period – in respect of traditional European patents).
Opt out your existing patents from the jurisdiction of the Unified Patent Court. That is the advice European patent attorney Martin Luten repeatedly gave to the audience of a webinar last month of his firm Arnold & Siedsma. In the webinar, Luten discussed the basics of the Unitary Patent (UP) and the Unified Patent Court…
UPDATED 6/12/22. The start of the Unified Patent Court, which was planned for 1 April next year, has been postponed to 1 June 2023, due to the problems with the access of the UPC’s content management system. A the UPC announced on its website, the ‘start of the Sunrise Period is postponed for two months….
Starting tomorrow morning, external users can test the sunrise functionalities of the Unified Patent Court’s case management system for a three week period, until 16 December 2022. According to an announcement on the UPC’s website, ‘all tests will be carried out in the CMS test environment. This environment is a copy of the CMS production…
Johannes Karcher, acting chairman of the Administrative Committee of the Unified Patent Court, is optimistic the court will open its doors in April 2023 as planned, despite the questions which have been raised with the authentication of users within the Case Management System. He expects a solution ‘rather soon’ for the relocation of UPC cases…
The European Patent Office and the Unified Patent Court (UPC) have signed an agreement on the exchange of data between the two institutions. The agreement, which was signed by EPO President António Campinos and President of the UPC’s Court of Appeal Klaus Grabinksi on the fringes of a high-level conference last week in Brussels, provides…
The Unified Patent Court will lead to a concentration of forces in the European patent litigation sector. That is the expectation of Richard Ebbink, partner at Brinkhof, and Georg Rauh, partner at Vossius. In September, their firms announced they would start cooperating in a new brand, Vossius and Brinkhof UPC Litigators. Kluwer IP Law interviewed…
The preparations for the start of the Unitary Patent and the Unified Patent Court have gained momentum. In the upcoming week a high-profile conference on the UP system will be held in Brussels and a mock UPC trial in Paris. The conference, jointly organised by the Belgian government, the EPO and the European Commission, will…
Mr Klaus Grabinski from Germany, as President of the Court of Appeal, and Ms Florence Butin from France, as President of the Court of First Instance, will lead the Unified Patent Court. This has been announced by the Court. ‘The Presidium will completed by two judges from the Court of Appeal: Ms Rian Kalden (NL)…
Although the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (AUPC) cannot be considered Union (EU) Law, it is couched in the wording of EU legal acts seeking to create “unitary patent protection” as part of “enhanced cooperation” between Member States enshrined in Articles 326 et seq. of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union…
The Unified Patent Court has provided more information about the new authentication mode and electronic signature, which are necessary to access the CMS of the new court. As is explained in a document which was published today, ‘to be able to use the CMS system and eSignature functions, you need first to contact one of…
