The Unitary Patents system – providing for the new Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court (UPC) – will have a profound impact on patent protection, patent enforcement and patent revocation proceedings in Europe.

The Unitary Patent will enable patentees – for the first time in history – to obtain a single patent covering most EU member states, including all major EU markets. The Unified Patent Court will have exclusive jurisdiction over all matters concerning the validity and infringement of patents granted by the European Patent Office, i.e., not only the new Unitary Patents but also the existing European Patents. The UPC's decisions will have effect in all participating EU member states. As a consequence, even existing European Patents could be enforced or revoked in all of those member states through a single action at the UPC.

Now that the provisional application phase of the UPC Agreement has started, the Unitary Patent and the UPC are expected to go live at the beginning of 2023.

We will guide you through the most important topics and flag potential action items in a series of insights over the next few months.