The European Patent Office (EPO) announced on Thursday, 16 June, that the future unitary patent forms have been put online in demonstration mode.
“Patent applicants and their representatives can now familiarise themselves with the new Unitary Patent features in Online Filing 2.0 and Online Filing”, the EPO announced on its website. However, the office indicates that it is not yet possible to sign and send these forms in production mode.
As a reminder, the “unitary patent package” consists of two regulations as well as an international treaty establishing the Unified Patent Court (UPCA). For the unitary patent and the Unified Patent Court to be able to enter into force, the UPCA must be ratified by 13 Member States, including the three largest applicants (Germany, France, and Italy).
At present, 16 Member States have deposited their instruments of ratification with the [General] Secretariat of the Council of the EU. Germany has yet to deposit its ratification of the UPCA. We were told that this step is expected be taken once sufficient progress has been made in the preparations undertaken in the context of the provisional application period, given that the new unitary patent system will start operating 4 months after Germany’s instruments have been deposited (see EUROPE 12945/22).
To consult the new form system: https://aeur.eu/f/28b (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)