The Unified Patent Court (UPC) began its work just over a year ago: how has it gone so far and what does the future hold?

In her article “Unified Patent Court: quo vadis” in the winter issue of European Biotechnology magazine, BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT partner and patent attorney Dr. Ute Kilger looks back on the first year of activity of the Unified Patent Court (UPC).

Among other things, it questions the argumentation that is always used in favor of the Unified Patent Court that proceedings before only the UPC court are less costly than before national courts. Initial experience has shown that both plaintiffs and defendants before the UPC have to reckon with a considerable amount of time and therefore also costs for the preparation of proceedings. However, one advantage of the new court lies in the faster results that the UPC delivers in first-instance judgments within a time frame of one year and a second in the uniform interpretation of claims in infringement and validity actions.

She further examines how extensively the UPC and the opt-out option are used and derives a tendency of the court with regard to the plaintiff-friendliness from the first judgments.

Subscribers can find the complete analysis by Dr. Ute Kilger in the winter issue of the European Biotechnology Magazine.