The Protocol of Provisional Application (PPA) of the Unified Patent Court Agreement (UPCA) began on Wednesday 19 January, following the deposit of the instrument of ratification by Austria the previous day.
Austria was the first Member State to ratify the agreement, the new court said on its website. “Yesterday the loop was closed”, it said. Austria is now the thirteenth Member State to participate in the provisional application of the UPCA. “After almost 50 years of discussions, the Unitary Patent starts to become a reality”, the Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, said on his Twitter account on Thursday 20 January.
“A cost-attractive patent, uniformly covering the territory of all participating EU member states will be available a few months from now”, said António Campino, President of the European Patent Office. According to Mr Campino, the new patent system will more effectively support growth, innovation and recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The period of provisional application is expected to last 8 months in order to complete the technical and infrastructural preparations for the Unified Patent Court and thus allow the unitary patent system to become fully operational before the end of the year. During this period, the Court’s governing bodies, namely the Administrative Committee, the Advisory Committee and the Budget Committee, will be launched. Finally, the recruitment process for the Court’s judges will be finalised.
After many years of waiting and doubt about the future of the Unified Patent (see EUROPE 12474/17), key steps were finally taken last year after Slovenia and, most importantly, Germany ratified the agreement (see EUROPE 12800/6). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)