The German Constitutional Court docket issued a landmark determination with implications for a lot of corporations 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 Court docket (UPC). After overcoming many hurdles, any wise commentator will likely be cautious in making statements about the way forward for the UPC. That stated, for the primary time in years it now seems that the pan-European patent litigation system might lastly come into being. That is significantly related for corporations from the life sciences sector that are inclined to implement their blockbuster patents in parallel proceedings in essentially the most related jurisdictions. The brand new system and the supply of pan-European injunctions signifies that claimants will be capable to transfer from 5 parallel circumstances to at least one. Nevertheless, the brand new system additionally comes with disadvantages resembling pan-European invalidation proceedings. No one can predict the standard of judgments issued by the long run court docket. For homeowners of European patents who’re involved about dropping their IP rights, now’s 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 shopper alert written by Dr. Anette Gärtner and Dr. Alexander R. Klett.