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 start date for the Unified Patent Court remains 1 June 2023. This has been confirmed to Kluwer IP Law by Johannes Karcher, acting chairman of the Administrative Committee. The decision was made by the UPC member states last week at a meeting of the Administrative Committee in Luxembourg. Due to problems with accessing the…
In June 2023 the European patent landscape will see one of the most dramatic changes in decades with the introduction of the Unitary Patent (UP) and the opening of Unified Patent Court (UPC). In a short series this blog will go through the main characteristics of the system and decisions that need to made to…
The Unified Patent Court has announced an optimized API opt-out process will be in place as of 1 March 2023, at the beginning of the sunrise period. A new set of guidelines and specifications are available on the UPC’s website for developers dedicated to the sunrise period. The revised process for opt-out via API will…
In June 2023 the European patent landscape will see one of the most dramatic changes in decades with the introduction of the Unitary Patent (UP) and the opening of Unified Patent Court (UPC). In a short series this blog will go through the main characteristics of the system and decisions that need to made to…
The story of the creation of the Unitary Patent and the Unified Patent Court was like the game ‘Fortunately, unfortunately’, according to Pierre Véron. The French patent litigation specialist was the founder and first president of the European Patent Lawyers Association (from 2001) and has been involved in the creation of the Unitary Patent Package…
As most readers will be well aware, Brexit has raised some fundamental issues for the Unified Patent Court (“UPC”) project, among which two points stand out. First, that, contrary to what it is envisaged in by Article 7.2 of the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (“UPCA”), London will no longer be able to accommodate…
In June 2023 the European patent landscape will see one of the most dramatic changes in decades with the introduction of the Unitary Patent (UP) and the opening of Unified Patent Court (UPC). In a short series this blog will go through the main characteristics of the system and decisions that need to made to…
The Unified Patent Court has announced a practice period will be held from 13 to 24 February 2023 to try out the CMS sunrise functionalities which, as of the first of March, will enable users to opt out European patents from the jurisdiction of the UPC. During the practice period a CMS test environment will…
He left the UPC somewhat unexpectedly late 2022, and now he’s back already: Alexander Ramsay, long-time chairman of the Preparatory Committee of the Unified Patent Court, has been appointed as Registrar of the new court. This has been announced on the UPC’s website. Axel Jacobi from Germany will be Deputy-Registrar. Both new officials of the…
A preparatory training for UPC appointed judges was launched yesterday in Budapest. According to an announcement on the UPC’s website, the legally and technically qualified judges of the Court are participating in the training, which aims at facilitating an in-depth understanding of the Rules of Procedure of the UPC. ‘It is organised as a partnership…
