The Unified Patent Court has launched its official website today, replacing the UPC Preparatory Committee's original site at the same address: www.unified-patent-court.org.  The new website carries links to all the key legal documents establishing the Court and to the Procedural Rules, as well as information on the Court and Registry. Read more

On 19 October 2022, the Unified Patent Court (UPC) Administrative Committee announced the appointment of 85 legal and technical judges, ready for when the UPC Agreement comes into force, likely in Spring 2023 (1 April 2023 as per the latest announcement from the UPC Administrative Committee). Milan-based Joint Global Head of Intellectual Property, Laura Orlando, discusses the latest announcement with Amy Sandys at JUVE Patent in the article UPC divisions demonstrate clout with choice of experienced legal judges. Read more

Laura Orlando and Rachel Montagnon were in conversation with Adam Houldsworth of IAM recently, leading to their comments being published in the IAM article "Your guide to the UPC on day one". Access the article and their quotes here. Read more

Following the Rules of Procedure of the new court coming into force in September, the UPC's Administrative Committee confirms timetable leading up to the start of the new court and availability of unitary patents and the opt-out sunrise period. Read more

Experts from across our London, Brussels and Dusseldorf competition teams have updated the content for the third edition of Lexology Getting the Deal Through: Competition in Digital Markets, the go-to publication helping businesses and their advisers successfully navigate the myriad of complex issues that can arise when applying competition law in digital markets. Read more

The UPC Committee has issued a consolidated version of the UPC Rules of Procedure following the approval of final changes to the 18th draft in July. These Rules are now in force as of 1 September 2022. Consolidated versions of the Rules are also available in French and German. Read more

The creation ("minting") and sale and use of NFTs raises many IP issues which we have discussed in our previous posts in our IP in NFTs series. However, brand owners and product manufacturers must also be vigilant in monitoring the virtual marketplaces to ensure that third parties are not creating NFTs that infringe their own IP rights.  This is especially true where the company is considering releasing or has released NFTs, because the public will begin to associate the brand with NFTs (which could include infringing NFTs).  There are several strategies that companies could adopt to minimise this risk. Read more

On the date that the UPC Agreement comes into force, the German prohibition on double patenting will be amended so that it only applies to European patents that have been "opted out" of the exclusive jurisdiction of the UPC. For European patents that have not been opted out of the UPC and for the new unitary patents, patentees will be allowed to maintain a German national patent in parallel to the European patent and infringement litigation before the German courts will be possible in relation to the national patent. Read more