shutterstock_140926093_janehyork
4 March 2020PatentsJonathan Radcliffe

UK’s withdrawal casts a shadow over the Unified Patent Court

Europe is of central importance to US and multinational companies as patent disputes and businesses go global. Companies take great care in patenting the right products and technologies in the right countries, and subsequently in managing and exploiting them. In recent years, crafting a coherent and thoughtful strategy for patent enforcement or challenge in Europe has been challenging because of the uncertainties surrounding the Unified Patent Court (UPC).

Withdrawal from the UPC

The proposed introduction of the UPC is undoubtedly the most significant change to the European patent landscape since the European Patent Convention of 1973. It is set to have a profound effect on how companies decide their patent strategies—from filing through exploitation to enforcement. The UK formally ratified the UPC Agreement in April 2018.

The intention is that there should be a single court with pan-European jurisdiction across all 24 remaining signatory states as an alternative to potentially litigating in parallel in each individual European country, with one court proceeding and a single appeal process. This is intended to achieve significant cost savings for users (being significantly cheaper than having to litigate simultaneously in multiple countries), be a faster and simpler way of obtaining a pan-European remedy, as well as ensuring that smaller and medium-sized entities can also robustly defend themselves.

Already registered?

Login to your account

To request a FREE 2-week trial subscription, please signup.
NOTE - this can take up to 48hrs to be approved.

Two Weeks Free Trial

For multi-user price options, or to check if your company has an existing subscription that we can add you to for FREE, please email Adrian Tapping at atapping@newtonmedia.co.uk


More on this story

Patents
12 January 2016   Fears over the Unified Patent Court, which have apparently led some practitioners to recommend opting out of the system whenever possible, are largely unfounded, suggests John Pegram of Fish & Richardson.
Patents
29 July 2013   The European Commission has proposed amending a set of regulations to allow the Unified Patent Court to enter into force once it is ratified.