{"id":11829,"date":"2023-07-27T13:25:13","date_gmt":"2023-07-27T13:25:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pruefer.eu\/2023\/07\/27\/chancen-und-risiken-des-neuen-europaeischen-einheitspatents-teil-1\/"},"modified":"2023-08-01T09:31:08","modified_gmt":"2023-08-01T09:31:08","slug":"chances-and-risks-of-the-new-european-unitary-patentand-new-unified-patent-court-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pruefer.eu\/en\/2023\/07\/27\/chances-and-risks-of-the-new-european-unitary-patentand-new-unified-patent-court-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Chances and Risks of the New European Unitary Patentand New Unified Patent Court – Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
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(I) Introduction and Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n

June 1, 2023 marks the beginning of a new era in European patent law: the new European Unitary Patent system entered into force, consisting of the Unitary Patent (UP) and the Unified Patent Court (UPC). 50 years after the introduction of the European Patent Convention and millions of European patents filed, this may be the most prominent change in European patent practice. The Unitary Patent adds as a third pillar to the classical European patents and the national patents. The Unified Patent Court will have an influence on both the unitary patent and the classical European patents as a modern and efficient litigation system.<\/p>\n

What will be new, what will remain? As the patent landscape in Europe becomes more complex, other relevant questions arise: what strategic decisions need to be made? How should patent applicants and owners adapt their practice, and what impact can be expected when flanking business in Europe by patent-protected innovation? This article is intended to provide guidance in answering such and other questions and, where appropriate, to draw a comparison with the established German\/European litigation regime.<\/p>\n

Key points of the new Unified Patent (UP) and Unified Patent Court (UPC) system<\/strong><\/p>\n

Type of protection<\/strong><\/p>\n

With the introduction of the new legal framework, the patent applicant at the European level (i.e. besides the national patents) has the possibility to choose between<\/p>\n

(a) the new European patent with unitary effect (“unitary patent” \/ UP) in the territories of all participating EU member states which have ratified the Unified Patent Court Agreement (UPCA), and<\/p>\n

(b) as before, the “classical” European patent, which is a bundle patent and, after grant of the patent, is divided into national parts for the ultimately desired validated countries. If additional protection is sought for individual countries not covered by the unitary patent according to (a) (e.g. the non-EU countries Great Britain or Switzerland), a mixture of (a) and (b) need to be chosen.<\/p>\n

The option to choose will be exercised at the time of grant, within a period of 1 month after the publication of the grant. Until grant, the procedure before the European Patent Office is the same, independent of the later choice of the type of protection. This means that the formal, procedural, and substantive requirements are the same, regardless of whether a unitary patent or a classically validated patent is concerned.<\/p>\n

Currently, the EU member states shown in the map of Fig. 1 and listed below are covered by the new European patent with unitary effect:<\/p>\n

Germany, France, Italy, Austria, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Austria, Slovenia, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Bulgaria<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nThe map on the right shows the respective status of the EU states, depending on whether the UPCA is effective for them (dark blue), whether they have signed the Convention signed but not yet ratified the ratified the treaty (medium blue), or have not signed the treaty (light blue).<\/p>\n

It remains to be seen whether the remaining EU member states which have signed but not yet ratified will do so and will ratify the UPCA, and whether Spain, Poland and Croatia, which have so far not acceded to the UPC, will change their position in the future in order to ultimately help the European Unitary Patent system achieve a full EU-wide unitary regime.<\/p>\n

Interaction between EPO\/EPC and UP\/UPC<\/strong><\/p>\n

Up to the grant stage of a European Patent Application, everything remains the same as before. In particular, the European Patent Office (EPO) will remain competent for search and examination. Only at the grant stage the Applicant can choose between a classical validation or a UP, or a mixture of both (UP and validation in countries not party to the UPCA). Opposition before the EPO will remain to exist, no matter whether a UP and\/or classical validated EP patent is involved.<\/p>\n

The newly introduced Unified Patent Court (UPC) is a common court of the participating EU Member States and contracting states of the UPCA. An important difference to the type of protection is that the UPC has jurisdiction not only over unitary patents but also over classical European patents which have been validated in one or more states, provided that the classical EP patent is not opted out (as discussed later) and the validated country is also an UPCA state. The most significant change for litigation practice is that a decision of the UPC has uniform effect in all participating EU member states.<\/p>\n

If the patent applicant chooses the UP as the type of protection at the time of grant, the UPC is mandatory in the participating EU countries. For classical European patents, however, the patent proprietor has the possibility during a 7-year transitional period to exclude the applicability of the UPC by a so-called “opt-out” request; then the old system of national litigation rules remains applicable.<\/p>\n

Table 1<\/strong> summarizes the tasks and competences between EPO and UPC<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
European Patent Office<\/td>\nUnified Patent Court*<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Filing<\/p>\n

Examination<\/p>\n

Grant<\/p>\n

Opposition<\/p>\n

Appeal<\/td>\n

Unitary Patent (UP)<\/td>\nInfringement Action
\n(PI and main proceedings)Declaratory Action of Non-infringementNullity\/Revocation Action<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
validated EP patent*<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

* the UPC has competence also for classical validated EP patent, unless opted out<\/p>\n

Table 2<\/strong> lists pros and cons for choosing either UP or validation of the EP patent in individual countries. The patent owner’s decision for the one or the other system includes a weighing of pros and cons depending on the individual case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nPro<\/td>\nContra<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unitary Patent (UP)<\/td>\n

unitary protection in the whole territory of UPCA countries<\/p>\n

more simple administration<\/p>\n

less annuity fee compared to a total of sum of 4 or more countries<\/p>\n

enforcement in 1 efficient UPC court proceedings<\/p>\n

harmonized substantive and procedural law<\/td>\n

validation of patent in non-UPCA states is still needed if scope of UP territory is not sufficient<\/p>\n

during transition phase a complete translation of the patent specification into one other EU language is needed<\/p>\n

all or none in terms of maintenance (annuity payments) and validity (risk of total nullity)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

 <\/p>\n

validated EP patent<\/td>\n

still cost-efficient if number of desired countries is relatively low (1 to 3)<\/p>\n

abandonment of individual countries while maintaining others is possible (cost factor)<\/td>\n

More administrative burden<\/p>\n

enforcement in every country needed where infringement takes place<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

Further positive or critical effects will become apparent below when details of the new system and factors to opt into or out of the new law will be discussed.<\/p>\n

Procedural law in the new Unified Patent Court (UPC)<\/strong><\/p>\n

The rules of procedure of the Unified Patent Court are similar to the basic structures and procedures of German court proceedings. However, there are special features in the UPC which should be taken care of:<\/p>\n