Unitary Patent

The Netherlands Local Division of the Court of First Instance of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) has recently issued the first UPC decision involving infringement by “equivalence”. Infringement by equivalence occurs when an alleged infringing product or process does not fall within the literal scope of a patent claim, but nevertheless constitutes an infringement because […]

On 3 June 2024, the Unified Patent Court, via one of its Local Divisions in Germany, issued a permanent injunction. This case was among the first infringement cases filed after the UPC started operating on 1 June 2023. The Court has achieved its aim of delivering a decision on the merits in about a year […]

Almost nine months after launch, the Unified Patent Court has received around 250 actions, an average of nearly 28 actions per-month. Compared to January, the UPC has seen an uptake in infringement actions (with an additional 18 compared to last month) and an increasing number of counterclaims for revocation (an additional 40 compared to last […]

Since launching on 1 June 2023, the Unified Patent Court has received around 190 actions. This includes 67 infringement actions, 25 revocation actions, 79 counterclaims for revocation and some applications for provisional measures, applications for preserving evidence and one declaration of non-infringement. The chart below shows each of these as a percentage of the total […]

The start date for the Unified Patent Court (UPC)  is now confirmed as 1 June 2023. German ratification of the UPC Agreement occurred today on 17 February 2023. The UPC will allow companies and inventors to enforce their patents in 17 EU countries in a single court action. The court coming into operation will also complete […]

The planned start date for the Unified Patent Court (“UPC”) has been pushed back by two months to the new date of 1 June 2023. The delay, announced today (5 December 2022), has been given after some users requested more time to get the authentication requirements in place for the new Case Management System (CMS).  The […]

The unitary patent (UP) system offers much greater simplicity for users. Instead of having to validate and renew a granted European patent on a country-by-country basis, innovators would be able to achieve the same protection with a single Unitary Patent maintained by a single renewal fee. That means fewer deadlines to remember and fewer reminder […]

The first Unitary Patents (UP) are expected to be registered and in effect before the end of 2022 and will cover at least 17 countries. With a population of over 300 million people and a GDP valued over $13 trillion, a Unitary Patent would cover the majority of the European Economic Area. Future Unitary Patents […]

The Unitary Patent Court (UPC) would have a common process and timeline for all of its divisions throughout Europe. This would increase the clarity of procedure before the UPC and reduce complexity and delay. It means that a UPC litigator can be assured that a case brought in Stockholm would be handled the same as […]

English will be the primary language of the Unitary Patent (UP) system. All UPs will have an English version. For businesses in the UK, US and other English-speaking countries, there is a clear advantage to being able to litigate in one’s mother tongue. This will be possible at all Unified Patent Court hearings. Costly translations […]

Where previously a European patent may have only been validated in, say, five EU countries, the Unitary Patent will cover at least 17 of the 27 member states for a lower cost to that of the five previously. These “bonus” countries could provide unexpected benefits to companies. Infringements can arise anytime and anywhere, so the […]

The Unified Patent Court (UPC) would resolve cases much more quickly than is possible under the current system. If a case is brought, it would be processed, and a judgment passed down within a year. This means that businesses can bring their cases to court more quickly if needed. The Court also intends to hear […]

SMEs can greatly benefit from the Unitary Patent (UP) and the UPC. Not only does the UP provide substantial savings on renewal fees across the entire (at least) 17 UP territories, but the UPC also offers several other benefits to SMEs. Firstly, the UPC offers a centralised approach for European IP disputes (substantially cheaper than […]

It is expected that the Unified Patent Court (UPC) would provide robust decisions as a result of the standardised practices between divisions and the diverse and well-trained pool of judges. This ensures that issues can be expertly tried, and decisions relied upon in territories previously unaccustomed to handling large volumes of patent litigation. This consistency […]

Firstly, the use of a single court system avoids the scenario of different courts in different countries reaching conflicting opinions on the issue of infringement. Even more appealingly, as the Unitary Patent (UP) covers a large number of European territories, it would be possible to use the court to seek relief for infringing activities happening […]

The Unitary Patent system would be cost effective for everyone. It becomes cheaper per country when compared to the traditional bundle of European patents as you seek to protect your invention in an increasing number of countries. Specifically, the annual cost of renewing a Unitary Patent would be equivalent to the cost of renewing individual […]

On 18th January, Austria deposited its instrument of ratification of the Protocol on the Provisional Application of the Unified Patent Court Agreement (UPCA). Since Austria was the 13th country to do so, this protocol has now entered into force, such that many of the articles of the UPCA have now entered into “provisional application”.  This […]