It won’t have escaped your knowledge that there is a new system for litigating and assessing the validity of patents in Europe: the Unified Patent Court (the UPC) opened its doors on 1st June 2023, with Unitary Patents (UPs) being granted – a single patent covering all participating Member States. You will likely also be aware of the option to “opt in” and “opt out” classic European Patents (EPs). But maybe you’re left wondering what that actually means for your business and for your existing or future patent portfolios? Does this affect where you validate your EPs/UPs and what does this mean when you actually want to enforce your patent? As a third party, you may have concerns about the patent landscape in which you wish to operate – how do you clear the way for product launch when there are UPs in force?
In this series of articles, we discuss factors to consider when deciding on a strategy for using the system, with a particular focus on subject-matter specific scenarios in the life sciences, robotics and software, and MedTech sectors:
- To embrace or to avoid? Decision making at the UPC
- Decision making at the UPC: Life sciences
- Decision making at the UPC: Robotics & Software
- Decision making at the UPC: MedTech
At Carpmaels & Ransford we are here to help you navigate these changes to the European patent system and represent you each step of the way. The firm has more than 70 qualified UPC representatives, and we have already been providing bespoke advice for many clients who are keen to use the new court. We look forward to seeing our strategies in action at the UPC.
