European Unitary Patent Court Finally Given Start Date - 1st June 2023

The German government has just now fully ratified the legal documents regarding the Unified Patent Court, which now allows the court to finally set its effective opening date, 1st of June 2023.  This has been a very long time coming, it has been delayed many times over the last ten years or more.

This means that a single court for resolving patent disputes will now be available across 17 member states of the European Union.  This will help greatly in reducing the current state of affairs in terms of inefficient parallel litigation in several member states, as well as potentially inconsistent judgements, given the same set of facts.

This major development in the European patent legal system should open the doors for putting Europe at the forefront of the worldwide patent infrastructure.

European patents can now be validated in the relevant EU member states once the European Patent Office grants a patent application, thus reducing costs significantly for applicants wishing to have patent protection in several EU member states.

After Brexit, the United Kingdom is not able to participate in this EU initiative.  However, the European Patent Office remains an option for obtaining a patent in the United Kingdom, via a separate UK/GB designation and validation, although any disputes would have to be handled in the local (England/Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland) court systems.

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