Yesterday, 24 member states of the European Union (see alist of member states HERE) signed an international agreement for establishing a Unified Patent Court (UPC) in Europe. Related regulations establishing unitary patent protection in Europe were adopted in December 2012. It is anticipated that the creation of unitary patent protection and the UPC will reduce the cost of patent
registrations and enforcement throughout Europe.
Under the current system, patents in Europe are granted by the European Patent Office (EPO). The EPO grants a "European patent," which is then subject to the individual rules of the various EPO member states. As such, there is no single forum for the enforcement of European patents, and any action for infringement or invalidity is subject to each country's specific laws. Thus, plaintiffs and defendants are often forced to litigate in multiple countries applying different laws, which is expensive and creates the risk of inconsistent judgments. Europe's new unitary patent protection and UPC should eliminate these concerns by creating uniform laws throughout the member states.
The UPC agreement will become effective after ratification by at least 13 member states. Press releases from the European Patent Office and European Union can be found HERE and HERE.