As mentioned in our articles of June 2022 regarding unitary patents and the Unified Patent Court, the European Union has in recent years laid the groundwork for a single patent having effect across many of the EU Member States, as well as a new court for enforcing...
There has long been a desire for patent rights to be pan-European. This project has been ongoing for decades with many fits and starts, but a new system has been built and is scheduled to begin operation at the end of 2022 or the beginning of 2023. This new system is...
What is a unitary patent? Traditionally, when a European patent is granted by the European Patent Office (EPO), it is validated individually in each EPC contracting state of interest to the applicant/proprietor. Each of those contracting states is then responsible for...
Background to the UPC The European Unitary Patent is intended to provide a further and more efficient option for enforcement of patent rights across the European Union. It is based on the European patent system which is overseen by the European Patent Organisation...
There has been much discussion over the past few years on the effect of Brexit on intellectual property rights within the UK. The precise outcomes were, for a long time, unknown due to the uncertainty regarding the type of Brexit that would be delivered. It is now...
Currently, the cost of validating a European patent in multiple European jurisdictions can be prohibitive and a prudent Patentee may have to select a subset of EPO countries to protect their invention in. In contrast, the unitary patent offers the advantages of wider...
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