The Unified Patent Court (UPC) will soon be operational. This
pan-European patent court is expected to open its doors in the
first quarter of 2023. From then on, it will also be possible to
validate European patents upon grant as a "unitary
patent" with protection for 17 participating EU countries at
the same time.
Also from then on, the UPC will be the competent court for
infringement and validity for all European patents. So, not only
for unitary patents, but also for all European patents validated
nationally in one or more of the UPC countries, even those European
patents granted long ago. For unitary patents, there is no option:
the UPC has exclusive jurisdiction for those patents. For European
patents that have already been granted or are validated nationally
after the start of the UPC, the patent holder has the choice to not
let the UPC have jurisdiction (opt out) but the national courts
instead.
