At the beginning of 2023, the Unified Patent Court Agreement will come into force (planned date - March 01, 2023). This means that a package of European documents establishing the Unitary Patent and the Unified Patent Court will finally come into force, where such patents can be defended and challenged.
For the first time in European practice, a patent with a unitary effect will appear, which will initially be valid in relation to 17 European countries and will allow consolidating patent disputes in Europe.
The main advantage of such a patent is the absence of a validation procedure and the possibility of paying unique maintenance fee.
The grant of a unitary European patent can be requested from the European Patent Office within 1 month after the publication of the decision to grant of a patent.
A Unified European Patent Request will be available in addition to the traditional European Patent. A European patent with the unified effect can only be waived or invalidated in its entirety.
Prior to the entry into force of the Treaty on the Unified Patent Court, patent holders can «relinquish» the jurisdiction of the Unified Patent Court during the so-called three-month «sunrise» period. By default, all existing European patents of the member states of the Treaty will fall under the jurisdiction of the Unified Patent Court. This will apply to all existing patents, including those issued many years ago.
In case the patent owner takes no action, then from the moment the Treaty enters into force, challenging and filing claims for infringement of rights to these European patents in the Member States will be possible only in the Unified Patent Court.