By Hugh Dunlop (2022)
A single patent for the European single market has been a policy goal for over four decades. In December 2012, Member States and the European Parliament agreed on a new package of legislation, laying the ground for enhanced cooperation in unitary patent protection between all but a few of the EU Member States. On 19 January 2022, the Committee announced that it had the necessary signatures for the Protocol on Preparatory Application of the UPC Agreement to begin.
There will be a new court with Local or Regional Divisions across Europe and a Central Division to be shared between Paris and Munich.
When the legislation enters into force, it will be possible to obtain a European patent with unitary effect – a legal title ensuring uniform protection for an invention across Member States – on a one-stop shop basis, providing potential cost advantages and reducing administrative burdens, but open to central revocation before the new and unfamiliar court.
This volume includes a brief commentary on the structure, the legislation and the draft Rules of the Rules of Procedure of the Court (as adopted by the Administrative Committee on 8 July 2022). Simple charts guide the reader through the procedures. The Regulations, Agreement and draft Rules are set out in their entirety and indexed, to provide a complete reference source.
Chapters are added to this fourth edition setting out the provisions for whether lawyers and patent attorneys will qualify as representatives before the new Court, and discussing the pros and cons of the system.
About the Author
Hugh Dunlop is a European Patent Attorney, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys and a graduate of Engineering from Cambridge. He has over 30 years of experience in the patent profession, including four years at the Illinois headquarters of Motorola, Inc. While in the United States he passed the US Patent Bar examination and was awarded an LLM in Intellectual Property Law from the John Marshall Law School. He has been a Partner in private practice in London since 2002.
Introduction by David Musker
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