The UPC is now open!

After more than 50 years in the making, the Unified Patent Court finally launches today – 1 June 2023. This represents the most significant development in European patent law and practice since the opening of the European Patent Office in 1978.

From now on, 17 EU states will cooperate to share a single court system to resolve patent disputes for their combined territories. The UPC is the first operational patent court to have transnational competence.

The UPC system aspires to boost safeguarding of innovation and to stimulate economic prosperity across Europe, and may be an attractive forum for litigation for non-EU patent holders to litigate their European patents.