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Significant progress on the road to the Unitary Patent

Information on the provisional application of the agreement on the Unified Patent Court. 

On January 18th, 2022, Austria ratified the Protocol to the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court on provisional application (PPA) which entered into force on January 19th, 2022. The PPA will allow to carry out the final preparations and arrangement necessary for the Unified Patent Court to start to work. The provisional application period is expected to be of approximately 8 months.

In view of the above, and in preparation for the entry into force of the Unitary Patent package, the European Patent Office has launched preparatory measures that will apply during the period from the ratification of the UPCA (Unitary Patent Court Agreement) by Germany and the effective entry into force of said Agreement (3-4 months):

• Possibility to request unitary effect in advanced before the publication of the grant of the European Patent (early request for unitary effect).
• Possibility to request a delay of the grant to ensure that the publication thereof takes place after the entry into force of the Unitary Patent package and, consequently, that it can benefit from the unitary effect.
• Both possibilities are allowed under particular conditions.

For more information, do not hesitate to contact us.