As of 1st of June 2023, after years of negotiations, setbacks and postponements, the Unitary Patent Package (UPP) enters into force: the European patent with unitary effect (EPUE) becomes a reality and the Unified Patent Court (UPC) starts its activities. Regrettably, the patent regime put in place is not a genuine EU system. Adopted through an enhanced cooperation procedure, it firstly does not include all EU Member States. Secondly, the conditions and the procedure for granting EPUE is in the hands of the European Patent Office, an international organization to which EU is not a party. Lastly, the substantive provisions and the litigation proceedings are defined by an international treaty (the UPC Agreement) to which EU is not a member, and by national laws for the remaining aspects. Such system carves patent law out of the EU legal and judicial orders and reduces the roles of the EU Parliament and Court of Justice. Challenges are numerous in terms of complexity, harmonization objectives, legality, business advantages and wider societal, economic and legal concerns, to name a few. With twenty-eight contributions from academics and practitioners, this book starts with putting the new system into historical, comparative and institutional contexts (Part I) before highlighting some issues under EU law and the perspective of EU integration (Part II). The institutional, jurisdictional and procedural questions raised by the UPC are then addressed (Part III), as well as the innovation and markets issues (Part IV). The last contributions discuss possible improvements and alternatives to the Unitary Patent Package (Part V).

The creation of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) is the most prominent change in the European legal landscape for the last four decades. This book explains how the new system works in practice and how to make the best use of its provisions. It offers readers an in-depth and comprehensive commentary on the legal mechanisms of the upcoming ratified European Patent Law, and advice on potential problems that users of the forthcoming regulations may face. The book first describes the creation of the Unified European Patent Law and how its four new legislative texts interact. The new legislative texts are then explained and commented on in detail, rule by rule, with diverse approaches and perspectives from a practitioner team comprising patent litigators, European patent attorneys, law professors and patent judges. The Commentary takes into account the practical needs of users of the new system on both the prosecution and enforcement sides, addressing substantive and procedural problems. This book is the most authoritative text on the Unitary Patent and Unified Patents Court, and an invaluable tool for practitioners in this rapidly developing area of law.

In 2013, twenty-five Member States of the European Union decided to take European patenting and patent enforcement to a next level. They agreed on a common patent title and a common patent court, i.e., the new Unitary Patent and the Unified Patent Court. Unfortunately, the implementation phase of the new patent package appeared to be a bumpy ride ?non-participating Member States attacked the legal texts before the European Court of Justice, the Rules of Procedure of the Unified Patent Court were subject to extensive debates, the Brexit referendum slowed down the ratification process, etc. Nevertheless, the unitary patent package appeared to be a survivor. The exact date when the Unified Patent Court will open its doors and the first Unitary Patent will be registered is still unclear. But observers agree that both projects will most likely become operational in 2018. From that moment on, companies, research institutions, and individuals will be able to obtain not only a patent title with immediate effect in (eventually) twenty-five EU Member States, but also a court decision on (for example) infringement or validity of a European or Unitary Patent with effect in the participating Member States. The authors of this book, one being a lawyer who had a hand in the legal texts of the Unitary Patent and the other being a reputed Belgian intellectual property appeal judge, were the first in 2013 to publish an introduction to the Unitary Patent and the Unified Patent Court. The current book is no longer an introduction but provides you with a comprehensive analysis of all aspects of this new patent and enforcement system. This book not only describes in detail all the provisions regarding the new patent and the new court, but also explains the history and the difficult implementation phase of the project. This book unravels all legal texts regarding the Unitary Patent and the Unified Patent Court, including the Rules of Procedure and all other Rules prepared by the Select Committee (for the Unitary Patent) and by the Preparatory Committee (for the Unified Patent Court). This book also includes flowcharts summarizing the important phases of the proceedings before the Unified Patent Court. For its deeply informed insights into the expected practical functioning of this revolutionary new patent and litigation system, this work is a peerless contribution that will ensure the most effective practice as this new regime begins. This extraordinary book is a must-have on the bookshelf of anyone involved or interested in European patenting.

Far more than a revised update, this new edition of a well-received guide to US patent law is twice as valuable to European patent practitioners as the previous edition. It is virtually a brand new book. The author, drawing on her recent years at a US firm, has augmented each chapter with practical information – including lines of argumentation to overcome obviousness rejections – and added new chapters, as well as much more detail on petitions and appeals, post-grant proceedings, and litigation. The new edition tells European practitioners not just about the framework of US patent law, but how it is applied. No other such book exists. With an overview of options at each stage of US patent prosecution and enforcement – with particular emphasis on its differences from the EPO system – the new edition details the available courses of action for all the procedural scenarios a European patent attorney is likely to encounter. The coverage is loaded with practical guidance on such aspects of US patent law and procedure as the following: · drafting applications and filing them at the US Patent Office; · applying provisions of the America Invents Act of 2011; · possible responses to a Final Office Action; · costs, fees, and time periods for various procedural actions; · using the US Manual of Patent Examination Procedure (MPEP); · declarations, oaths, and affidavits; · the Quick Path Information Disclosure Statement (QPIDS); · submissions on patentability by third parties; and · supplemental replies during examination proceedings. Every step in the process is described and directly compared as it operates under both the European Patent Convention (EPC) and US patent law. Any practitioner who has unsuccessfully tried to pursue in the US claims that were granted in the EPO will gain a new understanding of the reasons why – and what to do about it. In this highly practical, one-of-a-kind book, European patent professionals will find, detail by detail, exactly what is required at every stage of patent proceedings in the US. There is no other available source of such instantly accessible information for European patent lawyers, in-house counsel and paralegals, or EPC or national patent office officials, to all of whom this book will be of immeasurable value and usefulness. Intellectual property law academics and students will also benefit from the book’s comparative approach.

This book examines the impact and shortcomings of the TRIPS Agreement, which was signed in Marrakesh on 15 April 1994. Over the last 20 years, the framework conditions have changed fundamentally. New technologies have emerged, markets have expanded beyond national borders, some developing states have become global players, the terms of international competition have changed, and the intellectual property system faces increasing friction with public policies. The contributions to this book inquire into whether the TRIPS Agreement should still be seen only as part of an international trade regulation, or whether it needs to be understood – or even reconceptualized – as a framework regulation for the international protection of intellectual property. The purpose, therefore, is not to define the terms of an outright revision of the TRIPS Agreement but rather to discuss the framework conditions for an interpretative evolution that could make the Agreement better suited to the expectations and needs of today’s global economy.

Constitutional pluralism has become immensely popular among scholars who study European integration and issues of global governance. Some of them believe that constitutionalism, traditionally thought to be bound to a nation state, can emerge beyond state borders - most importantly in the process of European integration, but also beyond that, for example, in international regulatory regimes such as the WTO, or international systems of fundamental rights protection, such as the European Convention. At the same time, the idea of constitutional pluralism has not gone unchallenged. Some have questioned its compatibility with the very nature of law and the values which law brings to constitutionalism. The critiques have come from both sides: from those who believe in the 'traditional' European constitutionalism based on a hierarchically superior authority of the European Union as well as from scholars focusing on constitutions of particular states. The book collects contributions taking opposing perspectives on constitutional pluralism - some defending and promoting the concept of constitutional pluralism, some criticising and opposing it. While some authors can be called 'the founding fathers of constitutional pluralism', others are young academics who have recently entered the field. Together they offer fresh perspectives on both theoretical and practical aspects of constitutional pluralism, enriching our existing understanding of the concept in current scholarship.

The purpose of this book is to explore the key substantive, methodological, and institutional issues raised by the proposed unitary EU patent system contained in EU Regulations 1257/2012 and 1260/2012 and the Unified Patent Court Agreement 2013. The originality of this work lies in its individual contributions and uniquely broad approach, taking six different (historical, constitutional, international, competition, institutional and forward-looking) perspectives on the proposed patent system. This means that the book offers a multi-authored and all round legal appraisal of the proposed unitary system from experts in patent law, EU constitutional law, private international law, and competition law, as well as leading figures from the worlds of legal practice, the bench, and the European Patent Office. The unitary patent system raises issues of foundational importance in the fields of patent and intellectual property law, EU law and legal harmonization, which it is the purpose of the book to engage with. This is a work which will enjoy wide and enduring interest among academics, policy makers and decision makers/practitioners working in patent law, intellectual property law, legal harmonization, and EU law.