The General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union yesterday declared that the Provisional Application Period (PAP) of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) has started, following deposit by Austria of its instrument of ratification. The Unified Patent Court will oversee the Unitary Patent (UP) which is intended to be a single patent right having effect in the territories of participating EU members and European patents granted in participating countries. The beginning of the PAP means that the UPC Preparatory Committee can begin work to establish the Court, which is expected to take at least eight months.
When the member countries are satisfied that the Court is ready, Germany will deposit its instrument of ratification of the UPC Agreement. This will start a sunrise period of at least three months during which existing European patents effective in countries participating in the UPC can be "opted-out". At the end of the sunrise period the UPC will open its doors to litigants and the European Patent Office will start granting Unitary Patents, including based on European patent applications already pending.
As a firm of European Patent Attorneys J A Kemp will be able to represent clients applying for Unitary Patents at the European Patent Office and before the Unified Patent Court.
You can find out more details about the Unitary Patent and the Unified Patent Court here and you can register for our 1 March 2022 webinar "How and When to Prepare for the Arrival of the Unitary Patent" here.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
