Six weeks into the new Unified Patent Court and unitary patent, both elements of the new system seem to have taken off, with unitary patents proving popular and the first cases being filed (17 infringement and 3 revocation actions to date). Whilst opt-outs are high and teething problems remain with the case search systems and some practical procedural issues, a certain UPC momentum is developing, with the first preliminary injunctions and orders also being granted. Read more

On 1 June 2023, the Unified Patent Court (UPC) and unitary patent (UP) system finally launched, bringing with it fundamental changes to the patent landscape across Europe. Laura Orlando, Milan Partner and Joint Global Head of Intellectual Property at Herbert Smith Freehills, was recently interviewed by Amy Sandys at JUVE Patent, alongside other private practice and in-house IP lawyers, to discuss some of their hopes, potential challenges, and what the UPC means to them. Read more

Today marks the launch of the new Unified Patent Court (UPC) and unitary patent (UP) system in Europe – the culmination of decades of work, bringing with it fundamental changes to the way in which patents can be litigated in Europe. Find out more about the UPC, the unitary patent, and how our fully integrated … Read more

On 18 May 2023, the Italian government confirmed that the third Central Division seat of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) will be hosted in Milan. The statement issued by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has said that the new seat will be operational within one year. However, with the UPC launch date approaching on 1 June 2023, Paris and Munich will initially share the caseload until Milan is operational, as confirmed by the UPC Presidium on 16 May 2023 (see our previous blog post). Read more

The UPC has announced that the UPC Presidium has exercised its managerial power to decide that matters before the UPC that would have fallen under the patent classifications (A and C) that would have originally gone to London until the UK withdrew from the UPC Agreement, will be shared between Paris and Munich initially, as of the UPC start date of 1 June 2023, until such time as a decision has been made on the third seat. Read more

The value of a case before the UPC will be determinative of court fees and the applicable ceilings for recoverable costs. So the UPC Administrative Committee's publication of guidance on the determination of the value of a case before the UPC, alongside guidance on the scale of ceilings for recoverable costs, is welcome. Read more

In order to ensure a unified, European and consistent appearance and content of orders and decisions of the UPC, a set of four templates (two for the CFI and two for the CoA) have been prepared and published by the UPC along with a series of non-binding "Guidances" aimed at facilitating the use of the templates by the judges of the UPC. Representatives of parties using making applications to the UPC are also suggested to follow the drafting guidance when making requests to the court, so these are in a format that corresponds to the possible format of the decision or order sought. Read more

The European Commission has today (27 April 2023) published proposals for changes impacting on patents in the EU in relation to compulsory licensing of patents in crisis situations, reforms to the Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) system (including the EUIPO being able to set SEPs licence fees worldwide) and the introduction of a Supplementary Protection Certificate for the new unitary patent right and a centralised SPC application procedure for this and national SPC rights. Read more