UPC | Romania becomes the 18th Member State
- Jari Nieminen
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- News
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- 5.6.2024
Unified Patent Court (UPC) has started its operation on June 1, 2023. 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) (17 EU member states at the moment). A European patent with unitary effect may also be referred to as a Unitary Patent (UP).
The countries which have ratified the UPCA are at the moment (marked with green in the map): Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia and Sweden.
Romania becomes the 18th Member State
The UPCA has been signed by 24 current EU member states, including Romania. Romania belongs to the European Patent Convention (EPC) and has participated in the regulation of the UP. Romania was not a Contracting Member State of the UPC in the beginning though, because Romania had not ratified the UPCA before the UPC started its operation.
Romania has now ratified the UPCA and deposited its instrument of ratification of the agreement, becoming the 18th Member State to join the UP system, one year after the UPCA entered into force.
The UPCA will enter into force in Romania on 1 September 2024.
We will continue to actively monitor the situation and get back to you as soon as we know more.
The original news can be found here.
