The Unified Patent Court’s structure
The centralised patent regime in Europe has two main elements: the unitary patent (UP) and the Unified Patent Court (UPC).
A UP is granted by the European Patent Office. Any European Patent (EP) granted on or after 1 June 2023 is eligible to receive unitary effect. The pre-grant process is the same for EPs and UPs.
A UP provides uniform protection across the UPC Member States that have ratified the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (UPCA) at the date unitary effect is registered.
The UPC is a single, specialised patent court that has exclusive jurisdiction to hear infringement and revocation actions relating to UPs and parallel jurisdiction for ‘classic’ EPs during the transitional period, unless the EP has been opted out of the UPC's jurisdiction.
The Unified Patent Court’s structure
All EU member states apart from Spain, Poland and Croatia have signed the UPCA. However, so far only 18 have ratified the UPCA, as shown in the map below.
