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).
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…
The Unified Patent Court will finally become a reality, open its doors and start to receive cases from 1 April 2023. This is announced in the implementation roadmap, which was published yesterday by the UPC preparatory team and depicts all the key activities and milestones of the UPC in the coming months. The roadmap also…
The Unified Patent Court has postponed the introduction of a new login process for its content management system, based on a strong authentication schema, to the end of October. Late August, the UPC announced the implementation would take place ‘in the next release of the UPC CMS v0.65’ and would be activated mid or end…
The Unified Patent Court has announced a ‘major milestone’ in the implementation of the Case Management System (CMS). Starting mid or end of September, the CMS login process will be based on a strong authentication scheme. According to a report on the UPC’s website, ‘an electronic IDentification certificate (compliant with EU Regulation No. 910/2014, also…
The first of March 2023 seems to be a likely date the Unified Patent Court will open its doors. This became clear yesterday during the Unitary Patent Package Conference in Amsterdam. On the same day, the UPC Administrative Committee announced on its website that ‘the timing of the start of operations of the Court can…
The start of operations of the Unified Patent Court can reasonably be expected to occur in early 2023. This was announced on the website of the UPC today. ‘On 8 July 2022, the Administrative Committee of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) held its second meeting, which took place largely onsite in Luxembourg with the participation…
The government of Ireland has reaffirmed that the country will participate in the Unitary Patent system. A referendum will be held next year or in 2024. The Irish Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment announced this in a report on its website yesterday. The Tánaiste [the Irish vice-premier, Leo Varadkar] said: “A single Unitary Patent…
Readers who have followed our last two blog entries and the vast number of comments received, will have seen the following two conclusions surfacing. First, although the UPC ‘s Protocol on Provisional Application, in reality, may not be in force, there is nothing to worry about because there are no police around. Second, there is…
Our last blog entry, UPC: four reasons on why the PPA is not legally in force, published on 21 April 2022, seems to have touched a nerve, as attested by the unprecedented number of comments received, for which this author is very grateful. Some comments were supportive, while others expressed disagreement. In this blog, we…
The Unified Patent Court will be a precious tool to help harmonizing the legal system in the EU and fostering innovation. That is the expectation of Elisabetta Papa, head of patents of the Italian IP firm SIB. She thinks Milan may replace London as Central Division seat dedicated to human necessities, chemistry, metallurgy, although “keeping…
