A Long Courtship for Unity – as Europe’s Unitary Patent System Is Going Live Soon, Consultations about a Unitary Supplementary Protection Certificate Gain Momentum

After a myriad of challenges, delays, and hurdles, the setting up of the pan-European patent court, the Unified Patent Court (UPC), is finally gaining traction. On January 19, 2022, the UPC came into existence as an international organization. This date marks the beginning of the Provisional Application Period (PAP), which was triggered by the thirteenth member state’s ratification of the PAP Protocol. The Administrative Committee, one of three governing bodies of the UPC, had no time to lose and took up its preparatory work with an inaugural meeting on February 22, 2022. Since then, preparatory measures seem to be in full swing. The interview process for candidate judges began at the end of March 2022. As soon as the Court will be deemed functional, which is expected to take about eight months of preparations, Germany will deposit its ratification of the Unified Patent Court Agreement (UPCA), a final step which it is – in agreement with the other member states – currently holding back in order to control the timeline. From that moment, the final countdown of three months will be initiated until the UPCA will enter into force and the UPC will open its doors.

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