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.
President Benoit Battistelli of the European Patent Office hopes the United Kingdom will stay in the Unitary Patent system despite the Brexit vote of 23 June 2016. He has written this in a blogpost on the EPO website. Battistelli stresses ‘it is entirely up to the UK authorities to determine whether they want to participate…
Yesterday I have already reported about the annual Premier Cercle conference in Munich. Besides the obligatory discussions on the Brexit, the most important new element we could learn at the conference was the information from the Preparatory Committee on the number of judges that have applied for the UPC. Everybody who wished to apply for…
Today, the 4th annual conference of Premier Cercle regarding the Unitary Patent and the Unified Patent Court took place in Munich. It will be no surprise that the outcome of the UK referendum was the “elephant in the room” during the conference. Nevertheless, everybody in the room agreed that the UK political situation may and…
Despite the UK’s Brexit vote, the preparations for the Unitary Patent and the Unified Patent Court will go on as planned. The UPC Preparatory Committee and the EPO Select Committee have declared this in a joint statement, issued on 1 July 2016. According to the statement, ‘last week’s vote in the United Kingdom in favour…
The Senate or ‘Eerste Kamer’ of the Parliament in the Netherlands approved the Unified Patent Agreement on 28 June 2016 without discussion. Two weeks ago, the Dutch Second Chamber, ‘Tweede Kamer’, had already ratified the UPCA. It isn’t clear when the Netherlands will complete the formal procedure by depositing its instrument of ratification with the General…
Last Friday Europe woke-up with the worst news since World War II, which could have far-reaching consequences not only for the economy, but also for the values that one would like to see prevailing in the world. It is sufficient to read the posts published by some of those who are celebrating Brexit to realize…
How to save the Unitary Patent project? As soon as the outcome of the UK referendum on a Brexit was known, discussions started behind the scenes about ways to adapt the Unitary Patent system so the UK can stay in. According to Wouter Pors of Bird & Bird, a new scenario has come up to…
With many others, the European IP community is in shock after yesterday’s UK referendum. Though polls had indicated it was impossible to predict whether ‘Remain’ or ‘Leave’ would prevail, somehow it was difficult to believe the UK would really turn its back on the European Union. For European patent specialists, it is hard to accept that…
Today will witness the most important decision the UK has made this century. Understandably, many citizens are anxious about the outcome whatever their leaning on the issue. To help pass the time whilst the polling is on-going, my colleagues Richard Pinckney, Matthew Raynor and Luke Maunder at Bristows have assembled the Second Summer UPC Quiz (with…
A Brexit would be harmful for Europe and a Unitary Patent system without the UK would be less appealing for Europeans as well as Americans and Asians. Most industries cannot afford that their products are only marketed in the UK and not in the other 24 UPC countries, so the system may still be quite…
