Germany notified the Council of the European Union, on Friday 17 February, that it had ratified the agreement establishing a ‘Unified Patent Court’, paving the way for the 17 EU countries that have so far ratified the agreement to start operating on 1 June 2023 (see EUROPE 13038/13).
“From 1 June, unitary patent protection will be opened in Europe, whereby disputes will be settled in proceedings before the Unified Patent Court with direct effect for all participating Member States”, the German Minister for Justice, Marco Buschmann, welcomed in a statement.
For the court to become operational, at least thirteen Member States had to have ratified the international agreement, including Germany, France and Italy. The ratification process in Germany was not easy (see EUROPE 12474/17).
See the 17 Member States that have ratified this agreement: https://aeur.eu/f/5eg
According to the European Patent Office, since the start of the transitional phase in January, stakeholders have filed more than 2,200 applications to obtain unitary effect to an existing patent and/or to delay the grant of a patent until the unitary system comes into effect.
The unitary patent system will provide companies with a one-stop shop for obtaining protection in a faster, more transparent and less costly way. The unified court will allow for the centralised enforcement of patent protection, whether unitary or not. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)