Patent changes - who will lose and who will gain?
Date: 14.2.2013
The traders who want to protect their invention or technology will have an opportunity to get a unified patent in the nearest future. The establishment of the unified patent protection will cause coexistence of four patent categories: national patents, European Patents, European Patent with Unitary Effect and European Patent with Unitary Effect validated in one or few countries of EPC (European Patent Convention) not involved in the closer cooperation.
A new patent protection system will be valid in the countries involved in the closer cooperation. The appearance of the unitary patent protection is strictly connected with the establishment of The Unified Patent Court. This court will be created on the basis of the agreement between EU countries, without the European Union participation. It is going to have an exclusive jurisdiction in cases concerning both the European Patent with unitary effect and the “classical” European Patent, e.g. in cases when the infringement of both patents occurs. Both initiatives are very complex in terms of complications that can result from the specificity of the EU law and the law systems in the unified countries, including the constitutional aspects...
...read more at
