Unitary Patent – Unified Patent Court

Unitary Patent, and Unified Patent Court Services

The Unitary Patent system takes effect on 1st of June 2023. This will cover all EU Member States which have signed and ratified the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (UPCA).
When this new system starts, traditional European patents(EPs) and Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs) based on EPs will by default be under the jurisdiction of both the new Unified Patents Court(UPC) and any relevant national court.

KIPA are representatives before the Unified Patent Court (UPC) and has European Patent Attorneys that are members of European Patent Litigators Association (EPLIT) with EPLIT certificates. KIPA also collaborates closely with a law firm to be able to cover every need. KIPA can handle all matters regarding Unitary Patents and the Unified Patent Court (UPC). Litigation, opposition, and qualified searches.

Opt-out

KIPA can opt-out European patents (EPs) and Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs) based on EPs (published applications, granted patents and expired patents) already. The sunrise period 1st of March until the 31st of May is a transitional period when you can file for opt-out, to ensure that the opt-out has been registered at the start of the UPC. Jurisdiction will remain exclusively with the relevant national courts for the opted-out EPs. You will be able to opt-out for at least the first 7 years of this new system. Avoid all the risks by opt-out and still have the possibility to withdraw the opt-out later to “opt back in”.

A challenge with this new system is the responsibility of keeping up to date on the opt-out filings on any relevant patents and getting alerted on any changes. Having hundreds or thousands of patents that you need to stay on top of to make sure no one else filed for opt-out or that the one that you did register.
KIPA is able to run massive bulk checks through the Case Management System (CMS) API. Get all the opt-out information registered with hundreds or thousands of patents, fast and efficiently.

Unitary Patents and request for unitary effect

Unitary Patents (UPs) are obtained by filing a “request for unitary effect” on European patents no later than one month after the date of publication of the mention of the grant. From the 1st of January KIPA can help you to file for “early request for unitary effect” to register unitary effect as soon as the new system starts. There is also the option to “request for a delay in issuing the decision to grant a European patent” for EPs that otherwise would be granted before the new Unitary Patent system takes effect. This will make EPs eligible for Unitary Patent protection without having to grant unitary effect before the new Unitary Patent system is in effect.