After a long wait, at last Germany has ratified the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court, which officially starts the countdown to the entry into force, on the 1st of June 2023, of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) and of the European Patent having unitary effect.

On the 1st of March, the so-called “sunrise” period will start. From such date the owners of European patent applications, granted European patents, and related SPCs, will be able to choose not to avail themselves of the Unified Court in litigation, by way of the so-called “opt-out” procedure

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