Start Preparing Today: UPC And Unitary Patent Are Going To Happen Very Soon!

I have received this message almost the same moment when it has been published on the JUVE website (click here).

In very short words, this is what you need to do now. Without delay:

For each one of your EP patents:

Step 1 is to evaluate whether the respective patent or patent application is worth the effort at all. This applies to all your EP patents and patent applications, whether they will be submitted to the jurisdiction of the UPC or not. A patent that is not and will never be useful should be dumped as soon as identified to be so. This evaluation step should be part of the annual house cleaning of each IP portfolio.

If the respective EP patent or patent application has value, proceed to the step 2.

Read my latest article about UPC (click here) if you are unsure about the following two steps.

Step 2 is to find out whether it will hurt you more if you lose your specific EP patent for all UPC states in one single legal action, as compared with losing it state by state. Some businesses, such as pharma industry, prefer to have a potential revocation of their patents as expensive as possible. Others, such as mechanical engineering, don’t care so much about the difference whether they lose one patent for one invention in one single country or the entire patent family for several countries.

If losing your specific EP patent for all UPC states in one single legal action would NOT hurt, then you do not need to opt-out it from the jurisdiction of the UPC. Nothing needs to be done with your existing granted EP patents and you can proceed to the next step.

The evaluation step 3 is to determine whether you want your European Patent Application to become a Unitary Patent in the participating UPC states.

If you don’t mind to submit your granted EP patent to the jurisdiction of the UPC and if you plan to validate the EP patent in more than four (4) participating UPC states, then the answer is a clear no-brainer: go for a Unitary Patent. This is then the most cost-effective solution.

Continue reading here.