Why Some May Steer Clear Of Europe’s New Unified Patent Court

Europe’s Unified Patent Court, and the new Unitary Patent, are expected to become operative in May of next year. The UPC will allow both patent holders and challengers to bring a single action and receive one judgment effective in all 25 Member States participating in the new system. This post from Ropes & Gray explains how it will work and some of the strategic decisions that will be required in companies that have, or expect to have, patent positions in Europe – and why, for example, companies with weaker patents or patents that are especially important to the business might decide to go with individual national forums rather than the UPC.