The German Constitutional Courtroom issued a landmark determination with implications for a lot of firms doing enterprise in Europe on July 9, 2021. For many years, the European Fee and EU member states strived to create a pan-European Unified Patent Courtroom (UPC). After overcoming many hurdles, any wise commentator might be cautious in making statements about the way forward for the UPC. That mentioned, for the primary time in years it now seems that the pan-European patent litigation system might lastly come into being. That is notably related for firms from the life sciences sector that are inclined to implement their blockbuster patents in parallel proceedings in probably the most related jurisdictions. The brand new system and the supply of pan-European injunctions signifies that claimants will have the ability to transfer from 5 parallel circumstances to at least one. Nevertheless, the brand new system additionally comes with disadvantages akin to pan-European invalidation proceedings. No one can predict the standard of judgments issued by the long run courtroom. For house owners of European patents who’re involved about shedding their IP rights, now could be the time to determine the crown jewels and to make an knowledgeable determination about opting out.
To learn extra in regards to the new provisions to PatG please learn the consumer alert written by Dr. Anette Gärtner and Dr. Alexander R. Klett.
