It’s official: the Unified Patent Court and Unitary Patent will become effective from 1 June 2023

Published

Feb 20 2023

Written By

Domien Op de Beeck

Partner
Belgium

Assisting cutting edge companies in IP-rich matters since 2007.

Practices

Sectors

Life Sciences and Healthcare

Regions

Western Europe

On Friday 17th February 2023, the German government deposited its instrument of ratification of the Agreement on the Unified Patent Court (UPCA) to the Council of the European Union. This was the final legal step towards the launch of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) and the European Patent with Unitary Effect (Unitary Patent). Pursuant to its Article 89, the UPCA enters into force on the first day of the fourth month after Germany has deposited its instrument of ratification, i.e. on 1 June 2023.

Germany was always envisaged to act as a “gate keeper” and would only proceed to ratification of the UPCA once the Member States agree that the preparations for the commencement of the UPC are close to completion. The fact that the German government has now done so is a clear indication that also the organisational issues (which had…