On 10 May 2018, France’s Journal Officiel published "Ordonnance n° 2018-341 du 9 mai 2018" (the "Order") on the European patent with unitary effect and the unified patent jurisdiction. This new law is primarily intended to amend the French Intellectual Property Code to implement the unitary patent and UPC system in France. However, the Order will also have a wider impact on patent law in France.

Importantly, this Order does not specify which law should be applied by the French courts during the UPC transitional period; it will be for French courts to decide whether they should apply the substantive provisions of the UPC or the French law (the latter solution being the recommendation of the Preparatory Committee’s interpretative note) for issues like the Bolar exemption.

 A link to the original French version of the Order can be found here.

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