Publications, press articles, rankings, awards
The start of the Sunrise Period postponed by two months
The Sunrise Period of the Unified Patent Jurisdiction was supposed to start on 1 January 2023, with a goal of the jurisdiction becoming operational on 1 April 2023.
In a press release dated 5 December 2022, the Court states that this timetable is postponed by two months. The Sunrise Period will therefore start on 1 March 2023, with the aim of the Court coming into force on 1 June 2023.
What is the “sunrise period”?
The deposit of the Unified Patent Court Agreement ratification instrument by Germany will trigger the Sunrise period and the entry into force of the UPCA (3 months after the start of the Sunrise period).
In anticipation of the opening of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) that is currently planned for April 1st 2023, it will be possible to opt out existing patents and patent application from the jurisdiction of the UPC.
Early request for Unitary Patent possible from January 1st, 2023
The European Patent with unitary effect (“Unified Patent”) will be introduced soon. The final missing ratification is expected to be deposited by Germany in December. (more…)
Opt-out : actions to be undertaken
As you may know, alongside with the set-up of a patent with unitary effect, a Unified Patent Court (UPC) is being established and will be effective at the end of a “sunrise” period (expected in spring 2023).
By default, this UPC court will also have jurisdiction over all your European patent applications and granted European patents (in force or expired since less than 5 years) and deriving SPCs.
EPO abolishes 10 day “delivery grace period”
1. Under the current EPC system, letters from the EPO are deemed to be delivered to the addressee on the tenth day following its handover to the postal service provider. (more…)
Opt-out of SPCs
Operation of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) is currently expected for 1st April 2023 (https://www.unified-patent-court.org/news/latest-state-play-view-launch-unified-patent-court), thus launching the sunrise period as soon as 1st January 2023.
During this sunrise period, it will be possible to opt-out European (EP) titles from the competence of the UPC. Opt-out will be possible for published EP patent applications, granted EP patents (without unitary effect) and Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs) issued for a product protected by a EP patent (A.83 UPCA).