Unitary patents and the Unified Patent Court—historical background and development [Archived]

Copyright © 2025 LexisNexis
Produced in partnership with Dr Gregory Bacon of Bristows
Practice notes

Unitary patents and the Unified Patent Court—historical background and development [Archived]

Copyright © 2025 LexisNexis

Produced in partnership with Dr Gregory Bacon of Bristows

Practice notes
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ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained.

This Practice Note discusses the historical background to the EU unitary patent (UP) and Unified Patent Court (UPC), as well as some details about how both the patent and the court would work. For detailed information about the structure, jurisdiction and competence of the UPC and for a discussion about first instance and Court of Appeal procedure which explores and explains the Rules of Procedure of the UPC, see Practice Note: Unified Patent Court—procedure.

The UPC opened for business on 1 June 2023 after a three-month sunrise period starting on 1 April 2023. This followed a number of setbacks, including the UK’s departure from the EU and subsequent decision to withdraw from the system, and the German Federal Constitutional Court’s decision to uphold a complaint against the Unified Patent Court Agreement (UPCA).

Historical background and concepts

As far back as the 1950s, the six founding members of what is now the EU sought to introduce

Gregory Bacon
Dr Gregory Bacon

Partner, Bristows

Greg Bacon’s extensive scientific background gives him a valuable understanding of technical issues that can underlie IP matters, particularly in the life sciences field. He has advised and represented clients on small molecule pharmaceuticals, biologics (originators and biosimilars), medical devices (hardware and software), as well as in the cosmetics, chemicals, technology, shipping and online publishing sectors.
 
Greg has represented clients in many cases before both the English High Court (including Patents Court) and Court of Appeal. In addition, Greg has extensive experience of strategic multinational litigation in multiple jurisdictions, including at the EPO, through global pharmaceutical product coordination projects for many clients.
 
He has also spent time on secondment to the IP litigation department of a leading IP law firm in the Netherlands as well as the UK legal department of a global healthcare IT company, working on non-contentious IP/IT, regulatory and commercial matters.
 
Greg is a regular contributor to the monthly EPO reports which Bristows produce for the CIPA Journal and writes on UK cases for a number of IP blogs. He is also the editor of our On the Pulse life sciences microsite and one of the editors of our Biotech Review publication which explores key issues and developments in the biotech space, and co-authored the UK chapter of the AIPLA’s International Patent Litigation guide.

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Jurisdiction(s):
European Union

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