Does The 'Long Arm' Of The UPC Reach Turkey?

Selin Sinem Erciyas and Zeynep Çağla Üstün explore whether Turkey, as a non-EU state party to the European Patent Convention, might still face the Unified Patent Court's jurisdiction under EU regulations.

After many years of deliberation, a majority of the EU member states accepted the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (the Agreement) in 2013 and it entered into force on June 1 2023.

The objective of the Agreement was to ensure speed and uniformity in proceedings by establishing a single competent court for the settlement of disputes relating to European patents and European patents with unitary effect.

The Unified Patent Court (UPC) was envisaged as a common court for the member states party to the Agreement. And thus the UPC became part of the judicial system of those states and was authorised to resolve disputes concerning European patents with unitary effect and European patents granted by the EPO.