19.08.2021
Last week, after years of delay caused by challenges in the German Federal Constitutional Court, legislation enabling Germany to ratify the Unified Patent Court Agreement came into force.
German ratification of the UPCA is a required step in setting up the unitary patent system and so this development moves the Unified Patent Court slightly closer to reality.
Thank you
The Unified Patent Court preparatory committee website has also been updated with a new timescale of mid-2022 for the start of operations of the new court.
Although the German legislation opens up the route for completing the set-up of the Unified Patent Court, a number of further steps are required including ratification by Germany (and two further participating countries) of the Protocol on the Provisional Application of the UPCA, finalisation of budget and IT systems and recruitment of judges.
There are also potentially updates required to adjust for the UK’s non-participation in the project following the UK’s departure from the EU as discussed further on the IPcopy blog.
06.05.2022
The Unitary Patent System – nearly ready to go liveThe unitary patent system, comprising the unitary patent and Unified Patent Court (UPC), is now expected to go live either later this year or early next year. The exact date will be known as soon as Germany deposits its instrument of ratification of the Unified Patent Court Agreement which will kick start a sunrise period. Following this sunrise period, the UPC will open its doors and it will be possible for a patent owner to obtain a single unitary patent which provides patent protection in at least 17 EU member states.
25.09.2022
The Unitary Patent System – Frequently Asked QuestionsThe unitary patent system represents possibly the biggest change to the European patent landscape in decades. Set out below are some of the most common questions that patent owners have about the new system and what issues they need to consider.
Thank you
