UPC | First annual report

Unified Patent Court (UPC) has published its first annual report. UPC started its operation on June 1, 2023, and hence year 2024 was the first calendar during which UPC has operated. The UPC system simplifies patenting in Europe such that it is possible to request for unitary effect for a granted European patent in the countries, which have ratified the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (UPCA). A European patent with unitary effect may also be referred to as a Unitary Patent (UP).

In the 1^st annual report of the UPC, the President of the Court of Appeal of the UPC, Klaus Grabinski raises for example the following:

“Almost 50 years after the signing of the EPC, it is the UPC that now makes it possible to enforce a European patent across borders, in one court common to all those EU Member States that have ratified the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (UPC Member States), completing the European patent system and bringing to fruition many years of effort.”

According to Grabinski, the UPC has been busy right from the start and as of December 2024, 663 actions had been filed in total. On the other hand, almost 550 000 European patents have been opted out from the jurisdiction of the UPC, out of which the largest part (about 470 000) before the UPC started its operation though.

In addition, the UPCA entered into force in Romania on September 1, 2024. It is therefore now possible to request for unitary effect for a granted European patent in 18 countries, which have ratified the UPCA.

We will continue to actively monitor the situation and continue to report on developments.

If you need more information regarding UPC, your Laine EP representative and our UPC specialist team (upc@laineip.fi) will be happy to answer your questions.

The original news can be found from here.