An Enhanced European Patent System

In December 2012 the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament agreed on two regulations1 laying the foundation for unitary patent protection in the EU. Shortly afterwards, in February 2013, 25 EU Member States signed the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (UPC). This committed the Contracting Member States to establish a Court common to them with exclusive jurisdiction for future European patents with unitary effect (Unitary Patent Protection, UPP) as well as for European patents validated in one or several of the contracting states – “classical” European patents