Seven years after the Member States of the EU signed the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (“UPCA”), the Unitary Patent (“UP”) and the Unified Patent Court (“UPC”) are likely to commence during the second half of 2022. This promises to bring significant changes to patent protections across Europe, potentially making it easier to both assert and invalidate a patent in 24 Member States. Importantly, if current European Patent (“EP”) holders wish to opt out of the UP in favor of the existing EP regimen, it will require that they take affirmative steps to do so.
Read the client alert.