On January 18th, Austria has deposited its instrument of ratification on the Protocol to the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court on provisional application as the thirteenth member state.
Consequently, the necessary institutional, organizational and financial provisions of the UPCA and the corresponding Statute may be applied in a provisional manner. Thereby, a smooth transition into the operational phase of the Unified Patent Court and, together with it, the Unitary Patent System shall be made possible.
The European Patent Office which will be responsible for the grant of European Patents with unitary effect estimates that the phase of provisional application lasts eight months. Thus, the entry into force of the Unitary Patent System can be expected before the end of the year 2022.
Further information will be available on the Maiwald Blog soon.
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