European unitary patent: are we there yet?

Abstract

Once more it appears that Europe is on the brink of a unitary patent and common patent jurisdiction. Both the Unitary Patent Regulation and the Unitary Patent Court Agreement have been subject to much political wrangling, so much so that some might say the former has been eviscerated. The conclusion of the Unitary Patent Package has been shrouded in controversy and a number of important legal questions are still pending, questions we address in this article. First, we will briefly retrace the history of the European Unitary Patent since inception (1), examine the Unitary Patent framework (2), then look at the scope of the Unitary Patent right (3) and the legal basis of the Regulation (4). Next we shall turn to the UPC Agreement to set out its main features (5), briefly comment on the language regime (6), and lastly close with some critical comments (7).