ON February 19, 2013, the Unified Patent Court (UPC) Agreement
was signed by 25 member states of the EU, the first step in
establishing a unified court for the settlement of disputes
relating to European patents whose term of protection has not
expired and European patents with unitary effect.
To date, 16 contracting member states have ratified the UPC
agreement including the United Kingdom who signed in April 2018,
confirming that it will stay in Europe after Brexit for matters
concerning patents and innovation. Other member states are expected
to ratify the agreement once Germany ratifies it. It is hoped that
Cyprus will follow suit.
To date, under EU Regulation 1215/2012, the national courts of
member states have exclusive jurisdiction to decide on issues of
infringement and validity of European patents. The UPC was
established as a unitary court with exclusive jurisdiction to
resolve disputes which concern validity or the infringement of
European patents aiming