The Unified Patent Court and Unitary Patent system officially starts 1st June 2023

17 February 2023

Germany has today deposited their instruments of ratification of the UPC, marking the completion of the ratification procedures by participating EU member states. This starts the countdown, as set under Article 89, to the official launch of the new Unified Patent Court (UPC) and the Unitary Patent (UP) system.

Following years of speculation, planning, discussion and development, the UPC/UP system is finally here. Following German ratification, the court has been confirmed and will enter force on the 1^st day of the fourth month after ratification, meaning that it will officially begin on 1^st June 2023.

The ‘sunrise’ period of three months will begin on 1^st March 2023, during which applicants can file an early request for ‘unitary’ effect, defer grants of EP applications and opt-out EP patents from the UP/UPC system.

While the date is now confirmed, and the sunrise period will soon start there are still many questions and many organisations have yet to make a final decision on if they should ‘opt-out’ parts of their EP patent portfolio from the jurisdiction of the UPC or not .

Zacco has previously established a UP/UPC expert team who have kept up to date on all the changes as they have been announced. They are positioned to handle all related queries so if you still have questions on the impact that the new UP/UPC system may have on your patent rights, or want to explore which of your rights might need to be ‘opted-out’, we strongly encourage you to reach out at upc@zacco.com for a more thorough discussion based on your specific needs.

The future of patent rights in Europe is changing, for more information visit our UPC page at:
https://www.zacco.com/blog/service/advice-on-unitary-patent-and-the-unified-patent-court/

You can find the official announcement on the EPO page here:
https://www.epo.org/news-events/news/2023/20230217.html

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