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Home > What we do > Practice areas > Dispute Resolution > Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court

What we do

Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court

After over forty years of discussions, most EU member states have adopted a new patents system.

This new patents system includes:

  • a new type of patent, called the “Unitary Patent”, which is a single patent covering all EU member states except Spain and Italy,
     
  • a new court system, called the “Unified Patent Court”, which covers all EU member states except Spain and Poland.  This new common patent court will include a Central Division with its seat in Paris, a Court of Appeal in Luxembourg, and several local and regional divisions, of which one will also be in Paris. The Unified Patent Court is required to cooperate in particular with the Court of Justice of the European Union in order to apply the correct interpretation of European Union law, based on the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice and by reference for preliminary rulings under Article 267 of the EU Treaty.

This new system will inevitably lead to major changes in patent filing strategy and patent disputes.

To prepare for these unavoidable changes, Gide is one of the first law firms in France to put in place a dedicated team whose aim is to guide clients in preparing for the new system.  In this respect, we have advised specifically on:

  • modifying patent filing strategies in light of the new issues arising from the Unitary Patent, and the ‘opt-in’ and ‘opt out’ possibilities,
     
  • understanding the strategic issues arising from patent disputes before the Unified Patent Court and the new rules of Procedure,
     
  • adapting contracts, in particular patent licences and co-ownership agreements, to the new system.

We rely on our proven experience in French and EU intellectual property litigation.

 

 

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