The Unitary Patent and the Unified Patent Court – what’s next?
Europe’s patent system is looking uncertain. Plans for a Unified Patent Court (UPC) have been thrown into doubt after the German Constitutional Court agreed to hear a case about the legitimacy of the proposed court – and part of the complaint against it appears to relate to Brexit.
The intention behind the UPC is for it to act as a patent court for all European Union member states. As such, it will have exclusive competence over European patents and European patents with unitary effect, and will form part of the judicial system of contracting member states. It will not have competence in respect of national patents.

