Unified Patent Court FAQs

• Published date: 15 June 2022
• Subject Matter: Intellectual Property, Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration, Patent, Trials & Appeals & Compensation
• Law Firm: Maucher Jenkins
• Author: Maucher Jenkins

What is the Unified Patent Court (UPC)?

The Unified Patent Court (UPC) is a new court in which traditional European patents (EP) and the new unitary patents (UP) may be litigated.

By default, once the Unified Patent Court Agreement becomes effective, Unitary Patents and European patents will be under the jurisdiction of the Unified Patent Court and the relevant national courts. This includes any European Patents already in force (and validated in a Unified Patent Court contracting state) on the date which the Unified Patent Court Agreement becomes effective.

See our FAQ about the Unitary Patent

What patents fall under the jurisdiction of the Unified Patent Court?

Unitary Patents can only be litigated in the Unified Patent Court.

When the new system begins, European patents (EPs) will also automatically fall under the jurisdiction of the Unified Patent Court, but can be "opted out" (See below section on Opting Out) in which case they will be under the jurisdiction of national courts only (as before). Those EPs that are not opted out can be litigated either in the UPC or in relevant national courts.

European patents can continue to be validated in the UK and other states that are not part of the system (e.g. Spain, Switzerland, Poland) and continue to be enforced in the national courts of those states.

When will the Unified Patent Court begin?

The next milestone will be reached when Germany ratifies the Unified Patent Court agreement. This is expected to happen in June 2022, in which case the system will officially start on 1 October 2022; however, delays are possible.

Where is the Unified Patent Court?

The Unified Patent Court is split into a number of divisions.

There will be Local Divisions in Unified Patent Court contracting states (e.g., Local Divisions in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, German, Italy, and Netherlands) and Regional Divisions (e.g., the Nordic-Baltic regional division comprising Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania).

A Central Division will have seats in Paris, Munich and one further location (to be confirmed). The Paris seat will hear cases from sections B, D, E, G and H of the International Patent Classification (which include physics and electronics). The Munich seat will hear cases on patents in IPC section F (mechanical engineering, lighting, heating). Cases relating to patents in IPC sections A and C (human necessities, chemistry and metallurgy) will be allocated for the time being to one of these sections.

The Central...