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).
Due to recent developments in Germany, Slovenia and Austria, where parliaments gave their support to the Protocol for Provisional Application of the Unified Patent Court Agreement, it is likely that after many years of delay the new Court will open its doors in 2022 and also the Unitary Patent will finally see the light of…
Austria will most likely become the member state which will trigger the start of the preparatory phase of the Unitary Patent project. Last Friday the National Council, one of the chambers of its parliament, unanimously approved draft legislation enabling Austria to ratify Protocol for Provisional Application (PPA) of the Unified Patent Court Agreement. Ratification of…
Even though the United Kingdom is expressly mentioned in the Protocol for Provisional Application (PPA) of the Unified Patent Court Agreement as one of the states that has to give its support to the PPA, this is not seen as a stumbling block for the entry into force of the Protocol by the member states…
Slovenia has deposited its instrument of ratification for the Protocol on the Provisional Application of Unified Patent Court Agreement and the UPCA itself. According to a message of the UPC Preparatory Committee, this brings “the Unified Patent Court one step closer to its launch”. “Thanks to the Slovenian ratification and following the recent ratification of the…
Germany and Slovenia have ratified the Protocol on the Provisional Application (PPA) of the Unified Patent Court Agreement. According to a report of the UPC Preparatory Committee, the German government deposited the instrument of ratification for the PPA on 27 September 2021. It wrote: “This is a decisive step on the way to the establishment…
Recruitment of judges and top officials of the Unified Patent Court, training of staff and work on the CMS are some of the tasks that lay ahead now that the Period of Provisional Application of the UPC is approaching. Alexander Ramsay, chairman of the UPC Preparatory Committee, has said this in an interview with Kluwer…
The Unified Patent Court will open its doors for cases around mid-2022. That is the expectation of the UPC Preparatory Committee, which has published a time plan for the Provisional Application Period (PAP) and start of the UPC today. According to the plan, the PAP will have to be approximately eight months “to conclude all the work…
The legislation which enables Germany to ratify the Unified Patent Court Agreement has entered into force. It was published in the Federal Law Gazette on Thursday 12 August 2021 and came into force a day later. The development follows the dismissal, last month by the German constitutional court, of two requests for an interim injunction against…
After a delay of almost four years, the route to German ratification of the Unified Patent Court Agreement has been reopened by the decision of the Federal Constitutional Court of 23 June 2021, which was published yesterday. The FCC’s rejection of two applications for an interim injunction against the UPCA ratification bills means the German…
Two applications for preliminary injunctions against German ratification of the Unified Patent Court Agreement have been rejected. The German Federal Constitutional Court has announced this in a press release. “Order of 23 June 2021 2 BvR 2216/20, 2 BvR 2217/20 In an order published today, the Second Senate of the Federal Constitutional Court rejected two…
