The Unified Patent Court (UPC) is a planned future court common to EU Member States which participate in the Unitary Patent system, and it will be part of their judicial system. After a transitional period of 7 years or 14 years at most, it will have exclusive competence in respect of traditional European patents and European patents with unitary effect (Unitary Patents). The UPC is based on the Unified Patent Court Agreement. The Unitary Patent system and the UPC are planned to start functioning once certain ratification conditions have been fulfilled.
A French government press release dated January 20, 2022, announces the creation of a harmonized intellectual property framework with the entry into force of the Unified Patent Court following the ratification of the international agreement concerning it. But what does it means exactly for us? Regular readers of this blog are aware of my…
The recruitment of judges for the Unified Patent Court will start soon, now that the Preparatory Phase preceding the opening of the Unified Patent Court has officially begun. According to the UPC Preparatory Committee the preparatory phase will last at least eight months. The UPC Preparatory Committee stated on its website: “Austria was the first…
What were the most popular articles of the Kluwer Patent Blog in 2021? Some topics keep on returning, but new issues found their way into the chart of best read posts on this blog as well. The number ten of 2021 is the blogpost Technicality at EPO After G 1/19. This article comments on the…
The Unified Patent Jurisdiction is coming! It is announced that the system will be operational by 2022. Great! But no information on its implementation, European governments seem to be barely aware of it, ignoring the issue (not really “European” by the way)… What is the problem? Example 1: who are the candidate judges? No public…
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…
