Unified Patent Court will open doors early 2023
July 14, 2022
The start of operations of the Unified Patent Court can reasonably be expected to occur in early 2023. This was announced on the website of the UPC today.
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As a follow-up to the oral requests of the Contracting Member States during the Administrative Committee’s inaugural meeting, the Committee confirmed the setting-up of local and regional divisions of the Court of First Instance. These divisions will be located in Austria (Vienna), Belgium (Brussels), Demark (Copenhagen), Finland (Helsinki), France (Paris), Germany (Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Mannheim, Munich), Italy (Milan), the Netherlands (The Hague), Slovenia (Ljubljana) and Portugal (Lisbon). The regional Nordic-Baltic division will be mainly located in Sweden (Stockholm). As to the UPC’s Patent Mediation and Arbitration centre, the Committee adopted the Organisational Rules of this Centre, to be set up with seats in Ljubljana and Lisbon.
As to the legal framework of the Court, a major step was taken by the Committee towards ensuring the efficient functioning of the UPC by adopting the Court’s Rules of Procedure and its Table of Fees. Both will enter into force on 1 September 2022. In addition, in the framework of the operational activities of the UPC, the Committee adopted the UPC’s Rules on duty travel, which include incentives for low-carbon emission modes of transport.
From an HR perspective, the Committee also paved the way towards a future recruitment of staff and officials of the Court, by adopting its Medical and social security plan, the Pension scheme and the Internal tax of the UPC.
Last but not least, in accordance with Article 14 of the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court, the Chair of the Advisory Committee presented to the Administrative Committee the recommended list of the most suitable candidates to be appointed as judges of the Unified Patent Court. This list is expected to be adopted any time soon before the summer break, following the conclusion of a written procedure.
Thanks to these key decisions taken by the Administrative Committee on 8 July 2022, the timing of the start of operations of the Court can reasonably be expected to occur in early 2023.
Please note that all non-confidential adopted documents will be made available this week on the Website of the Court. As to a consolidated version of the Rules of Procedure, following legal scrubbing, the will be published during the course of the summer, before their entry into force on 1 September 2022.’
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Curious mind
What about Art 7(2) UPCA as it stands? Have the Rules of Procedure be vetted by theCommission?
Patent robot
Great! I look forward to filing my first revocation action in London! I just hope that my counterpart will not notice that the provisional application of the UPC required the ratification of the UK.
Patent robot
BTW, the UPC home page announces "A single patent court covering 24 countries". Seriously?
Attentive Observer
The UPC proponents have always been good at bragging in the hope that the real problems, especially those linked with Brexit, will be forgotten. Why not continue? My grandfather used to say: if you stick your head in the ground, you should not be surprised to have your bottom smacked! The silence about the Central Division and its future is deafening. How will it be possible to enforce a decision taken in Munich or Paris about a patent in the life science field can be enforced in all the contracting states. Brussels or Lugano only apply for decisions taken by a court having a proper legitimacy and competence. Such a Central Division 2.0 is not a court in accordance with Art 6(1) ECHR! Another question for which no reasoned answer has ever been given! Paraphrasing a French say: The bigger the better it will be gobbled! I am however not sure! There are limits to decency!