The Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court are now Live!

The long-awaited Unitary Patent (UP) and Unified Patent Court (UPC) for determination of matters of infringement and validity of European patents goes live today, June 01, 2023.

The Unitary Patent (UP) will make it possible to obtain patent protection in up to 25 member states. at present there are 17 member states, namely: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, and Sweden by submitting a single request for unitary effect to the European Patent Office once a European patent has been granted. Meanwhile, the Unified Patent Court (UPC) will have jurisdiction to hear matters of infringement and validity for all 17 member states centrally, without the need to bring separate actions before national member states. The UP/UPC system will provide uniform protection across the member states, potential savings in translation costs, a point of central administration for participating member states and could streamline patent prosecution via the central litigation channel – the UPC.

For more information on the UP/UPC system please contact European Patent Attorney and UPC representative Abigail Welford

Abigail.welford@franksco.com