It’s our people that make the difference
Our partners and attorneys are highly qualified and highly experienced to advise you in all areas of Intellectual Property law. We advise start-ups, SMEs, and multinational corporations and ensure that your inventions, brands and designs are expertly protected.
AA Thornton IP LLP combines the vast experience of its highly rated patent attorneys with a high-performing IP litigation team, and is helping clients navigate the new options provided by the Unified Patent Court and Unitary Patent. A basic introduction is provided below.
We welcome UPC and UP enquiries via email to upc@aathornton.com or via your usual AA Thornton contacts.
AA Thornton IP LLP was ranked by Legal500 as a “Top Tier” patent firm in 2021 and 2022. The patent attorney teams are led by Adrian Bennett, Mike Jennings and Craig Turner. Our IP litigation team is led by Geoff Hussey and Daniel Byrne.
Legal500 testimonials:
“The ‘excellent’ A.A. Thornton & Co. ‘goes the extra mile to provide outstanding customer service’ and has expertise in both contentious and non-contentious matters.”
“The team at AA Thornton provides an ‘overall level of service that is top class’, with good industry knowledge.”
“AA Thornton maintains its position among the elite patent practices in the nation, largely based on its frequent successful representation of individuals, academic institutions, SMEs and multinational corporations.”
You can view our guide below or by clicking here to launch a new tab.
AA_Thornton_UPC_brochure_17_Feb_2022Recent progress towards the start of Europe’s Unified Patent Court and Unitary Patent
As has been widely reported, there will soon be significant changes to Europe’s patent system, with a new specialist patent court system (the Unified Patent Court or UPC) and a new option for unitary patent protection covering many of the states of the European Union.
It has been confirmed that the UPC will start handling patent infringement and revocation actions from 1 June 2023.
The following recent milestones deserve to be mentioned here.
Recommendations
We recommend that all owners of unexpired European patents (or their patent portfolio managers) take the following actions actions by the end of February 2023.
Additionally, applicants of European patent applications that have been approved for grant by the EPO should consider whether to request delayed grant and unitary effect (this will only be an urgent consideration for patent applications that are approved for grant in early 2023).
Please contact AA Thornton’s team of European Patent Attorneys and IP litigation experts if you have any questions regarding:
We will be happy to discuss which options are worth considering for your business.
We will continue monitoring legal developments and we will update our website when there are significant UPC and UP updates. You can also expect frequent updates to the UPC website in the “sprint finish” towards 1 June 2023.
AA Thornton IP LLP – 17 February 2023
The unitary patent is the first piece of the EU patent package. It was established by two Regulations which entered into force on 20 January 2013 and which will be applicable from the date of the entry into force of the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court. This is now expected to be on 1 June 2023. Applicants will have the option to obtain a UP via a conventional European patent application filed at the European Patent Office (EPO). At the grant stage, applicants will have the option to gain a single ‘European patent with unitary effect’ covering certain EU states which are participating in the UP system, in addition to the present bundle of national patents which is obtained when validating a conventional European patent.
The European Union has worked for several years on the establishment of a common patent court which will be created on the basis of an international treaty. The UPC Agreement – which is the second piece of the EU patent package – was signed on 19 February 2013 and will enter into force four months after a minimum of 13 states (including France, Germany and Italy) have completed the ratification process.
As of November 2022, 16 states including France and Italy have completed their ratification. The date on which the UPC Agreement enters into force will therefore be determined by the date on which the last mandatory country, Germany, deposits its instrument of ratification, which is expected to take place in February 2023 triggering a start date of 1 June 2023.
