The Unitary Patent and the Unified Patent Court Dr. Leonard Werner-Jones
Background The Past: No centralization at all Prosecution country-by-country Litigation country-by-country Patents actions 2
Background The Present (since the 1970 s): Partial centralization Prosecution centralized at the EPO Litigation country-by-country in national courts European Patent actions 3
Background The Future: Complete centralization Prosecution at the EPO Litigation at the UPC EP-UEs Centralised action 4
Filing and Prosecution Filing and prosecution No change The EPO will still be responsible for search, examination and grant of patents All key aspects of EPO practice remain unchanged The fun and games start at grant 5
EPO Grant Decision Time When an EP is granted, applicant will have choice: 1) Validate to get an EP patent with unitary effect (EP-UE / UP (Unitary Patent)) 2) Validate the patent country-by-country as we do now (Classic EP) Decision has to be made within 1 month of grant by the EPO 6
Territorial Scope Country EPC UP UPC Ratification AL * Albania AT Austria 06.08.13 BE Belgium 06.06.14 BG Bulgaria 03.06.16 HR Croatia CY Cyprus CZ Czech Republic DK Denmark 20.06.14 EE Estonia FI Finland 19.01.16 FR France 14.03.14 DE Germany GR Greece HU Hungary IS * Iceland IE Ireland IT Italy 10.02.17 LV Latvia LI * Liechtenstein Country EPC UP UPC Ratification LT Lithuania LU Luxembourg 22.05.15 MK* Macedonia MT Malta 09.12.14 MC* Monaco NL Netherlands 14.09.16 NO * Norway PL Poland PT Portugal 28.08.15 RO Romania SM San Marino RS * Serbia SK Slovakia SI Slovenia ES Spain SE Sweden 05.06.14 CH * Switzerland TR * Turkey UK United Kingdom * not EU member states 7
Renewal fees fixed package vs own choice Total Costs of an EP-UE vs. an EP over lifetime* 250 per state (in k ) 200 EP-costs per state 150 total costs 100 50 EP-UE costs 0 DE GB FR NL IT BE SE AT CZ GR RO PT DK FI HU IE SK BG LT SI LU LV EE CY MT (* costs include EPO and national fees but no attorney fees; application with 40 pages / 15 claims; grant in 5th year) 8
Cost Components 250 Composition of costs (in k ) 200 150 100 50 0 EP-UE EP-DE,FR,UK EP-DE,FR,UK, IT EP-DE,FR,UK, NL EP-25 pre-grant fees validation fees translation costs renewal fees 9 The Unitary Patent and the Unif ied Patent Court
European Patent Landscape: Status Quo and Near Future Grant Enforcement Patents actions European Patent with Unitary Effect Centralised action European Patent OPT OUT actions Grant procedure and national patents: nothing changes 10
European Patent Landscape: Future after Expiry of Transition Period (>7 years) Grant Enforcement Patents Courts European Patent with Unitary Effect UPC for UPCA Member States European Patent Courts for non-upca Member States 11
Opt-Out Opting out Opt-out removes the UPC s jurisdiction and gives national courts sole jurisdiction Opt-out not possible once an action is commenced at the UPC No opt-out fee Opt-out can be withdrawn 12
Opt-Out Opt-out removes the UPC s competence with regard to nationally validated EPs (but not EP-UEs) Opting-out not possible if action pending before the UPC (or if action has been concluded) 13
Courts Luxembourg Court of Appeal Court of First Instance Central Division Local Division Local Division <50 cases Regional Division 14
Thank you for your attention 15 2017 BIO World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology