The unitary EU patent system further evolves. On February 19, 2013, the Agreement for Establishing a Unified Patent Court (UPC) was signed. To come into force, the UPC Agreement must be ratified by at least 13 of the contracting EU member states, including Great Britain, France and Germany.
The unified patent court allows enforcing your existing and future EP patents as well as the new EU patents (available as from 2014) with a unified procedure for (almost) all EU member states, rather than having to start court proceedings against the same infringer in all European states in which your EP patent is valid. This will reduce litigation costs.
Further information on the EU patent can be found in our Client Information February 2013.
For the complete text please download the pdf-file here.