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).
Ireland will hold a referendum on joining of the Unified Patent Court in June. This has been confirmed by the Irish government. In a post on LinkedIn, Neale Richmond, minister of state for business, employment and retail, announced: ‘Today, I confirmed to the Seanad that we will hold a Referendum this June to allow Ireland join…
As readers will be well aware, one of the preferred hobbies of the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) is to issue controversial judgments in intellectual property matters which, quite often, instead of providing guidance to national courts, raise more questions than they answer. After the Christmas break, the CJEU seems to have…
The Unified Patent Court, what else? For the patent community 2023 was a historical year. After two decades of hard work and debates, but also delays, court cases, Brexits and other disappointments, the new European patent court finally opened its doors and the Unitary Patent saw the light of day. Unsurprisingly, the new patent system…
Since the start of operations 1 June 2023, the Unified Patent Court has received 160 cases. The court published an overview of the cases last week. The German local divisions are by far the most popular for infringement actions, and the language of 49 percent of the cases is German as well. The local division…
The EPO has recently announced it will ‘accelerate its processing of parallel opposition proceedings if it is informed by the Unified Patent Court or a national court or competent authority of a contracting state that an infringement or revocation action relating to a European patent or a Unitary Patent has been instituted before it.’ It…
When the Unified Patent Court (“UPC”) endeavour was in the process of being designed back in the day, its architects presented the project as an example of a one-in-a-kind cosmopolitan litigation forum, the seat of patent judges and litigators from all cultures, skills, backgrounds, languages and walks of life. A cosmopolitan court that would set…
The declining search and examination quality of EPO patents is not only harmful because inventions are not protected but they also create a lot of uncertainty for the industry. The problem has aggravated due to the Unitary Patent system, as thousands of Unitary Patents will flood countries where traditional European patents were not often validated…
A sweeping reform of the European Union’s legislation on supplementary protection certificates for medicinal products and plant protection products is currently underway, which features the introduction of a new centralized SPC examination procedure at the EUIPO as well as the creation of a new unitary SPC on the basis of the unitary patent, as previously…
The Unified Patent Court has refused to grant 10x Genomics a second preliminary injunction against rival NanoString, as it was not convinced of the infringement of 10x’s patent. The case concerned European Patent 2 794 928 B1 (EP 928 patent). In a reaction to the decision, 10x Genomics pointed out: ‘the injunctions granted by the…
The start of the Unified Patent Court is a very special time for patent enthusiasts in Europe. Johanna Flythström, a Helsinki-based partner of law firm Roschier has said this in a podcast interview on the occasion of the launch of the new UPC Case Law Tracker from Wolters Kluwer. “There was a lot of anticipation building…
