Associates Kalyani Joshi and Caylee Phillips and Partner Jeff Wolfson authored an article in Bloomberg Law discussing the new European Unified Patent Court, which goes into effect June 1, 2023, and what will happen to the currently granted and pending patents.
The European Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (UPCA) was further ratified by Germany on February 17, 2023, and with this ratification the UPCA can now proceed. Accordingly, the UPCA will enter into force on June 1, 2023, marking the beginning of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) and the Unitary Patent (UP). The UP is a single patent that will have effect in all participating countries of the UP system.
The UPC will have jurisdiction over new UPs, and for at least a 7-year transitional period, will have dual jurisdiction with national courts over classical national validations of European Patents (classical EPs) within UPC-participating EU member states. Because of this dual jurisdiction, third parties will be able to seek revocation of all validations of a European Patent in these states through a single, centralized action during the transitional period.
To read the full article on Bloomberg Law, click here.
