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ARTICLE · 07 MARCH 2023

Countdown To The UPC

There are around 3 months until the unitary patent and Unified Patent Court (UPC) come into being. This will be the biggest change to patent protection in Europe since the European Patent Convention...

United KingdomIntellectual Property

There are around 3 months until the unitary patent and Unified Patent Court (UPC) come into being. This will be the biggest change to patent protection in Europe since the European Patent Convention (EPC) came into force in the 1970s, and it will affect all patent applicants and proprietors in Europe, as well as third parties.

As the final countdown approaches, we summarise the latest developments and key issues to consider now.

What's new

The launch of the UPC was recently postponed by three months. However, following Germany's recent ratification of the UPC Agreement, the UPC will now start on 1 June 2023. That means the sunrise period (during which “classic” European patents can be opted out of the jurisdiction of the UPC) starts on 1 March.

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