European Unified Patent Court Procedure

Forty years after the first discussions began with a view to creating a single European patent, 25 EU Member States (with the exception of Italy, Spain and Croatia) approved three instruments creating a European Patent with unitary effect. One of the instruments is the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court, signed on 19 February 2013. The Agreement provides for a 'Unified Patent Court' (UPC) as a single court consisting of a Court of First Instance and a Court of Appeal. The court will have exclusive jurisdiction both in infringement and revocation proceedings. By this, the new court system provides a less complex and less expensive alternative to the current situation where patent cases have to be tried in each EU Member State separately.

This commentary is focussed on the procedure of the Unitary Patent Court, and covers:

• A. Overview
• B. Infringement and defences
• C. Proceedings and the UPC
  Part I. Ch. I-III, including Statutes of the UPC
  Part II. Financial provisions
  Part III. Ch. I. General provisions Ch. II. Languages of proceedings Ch. III. Proceedings before the Court Ch. IV. Powers of the Court Ch. V. Appeals Ch. VI. Decisions Part IIIa. Implementation and operation of Agreement

The general editors and authors are experienced patent specialists from the UK, France and Germany, working for renowned law practices: Sabine Agé, Christof Augenstein, Matthias Brandi-Dohrn, Emmanuel Gougé, Andreas Haberl, Alexander Haertel, Miriam Kiefer, Tim Powell, Konstantin Schallmoser, Tim Whitfield, and Alex Wilson.