Last Thursday 31 March 2022 a large international group of intellectual property experts, including our Elisabetta Papa, discussed the opportunities and risks of the Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court (UPC) from a business point of view during a Global Team of Teams online event.

Discussions reflected both the high expectations and the uncertainties of a new system that promises a one-stop-shop alternative to the fragmented European patent, but is as yet untested.

Law 360 magazine has published a summary of the discussion here (registration required).

Unified Patent Court Pros and cons in a nutshell

Under the current system, enforcing a European patent in more than one state requires separate actions before the national courts of each state. The UPC will cover all infringing acts across all contracting states with a single action and even preliminary measures and remedies will apply across all contracting states; specialised judges will issue the rulings, and decisions are expected to be faster.

On the cons side, the risk of central revocation under the new system is a concern for European patent holders and one of the main reasons in favour of opting out. Higher court fees are another worry. Moreover, for the moment at least, the Unitary patent and UPC do not cover all European patent member states, and obviously the new court’s decisions are highly unpredictable given the absence of case law.

Visit our UPC hub for essential knowledge on the UPC and Unitary Patent.