Once the Unified Patent Court (UPC) comes into force in 2023, users in receipt of a granted European patent will have the option of requesting unitary effect in addition to the existing scheme of performing national validations. The UP is a single patent right conferring protection in all European Patent Convention (EPC) states that have signed and ratified the Unified Patent Court Agreement (UPCA). Users will therefore be presented with the flexibility to obtain patent protection in their jurisdictions of choice through national validations, the UP or a combination of the two.
The UPC will have jurisdiction for infringement and revocation actions both for Unitary Patents and traditional European patents. UPC decisions will have effect in all States that are participating in the UPC and UP system. All granted European patents and European patent applications that are pending before the entry into force of the UPC will automatically fall under the jurisdiction of the UPC.
There are pro and cons of the UPC having jurisdiction over your existing European patents and applications. One might be the expected cost savings by choosing a Unitary Patent over traditional national validations. These savings are expected to increase as more States join the UPC and UP system.
To help you with the strategic decision, we have created the UPCalculator", a cost calculator which helps you to work out if and when a Unitary Patent will be more cost effective than traditional national validations.
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