Unitary Patent and UPC – the story so far

Last week, we launched a survey on attitudes towards and expectations of the Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court (UPC). The survey, which is aimed at in-house patent counsel, will be live until next week (and you can be in with a chance to win an iPad mini 3 if you complete it) so we are not yet ready to reveal the results. But some trends are already emerging.

One of the clearest findings so far is that in-house counsel do not feel there is enough information available on the planned system, despite the many articles and events addressing it.

We’re well aware of that challenge, and are commissioning a year-long series of articles on different aspects of the Unitary Patent and UPC. In fact, given the delays in launch and the volume of issues to discuss, the series is likely to last rather longer than a year.

These are the articles published so far (you will need a subscription to access them – discounts of up to 30% are available this week):

What we want from the Unitary Patent and UPC – written by myself and my colleague Emma Barraclough

Creative filing strategies for the Unitary Patent – by Adrian Tombling of Withers & Rogers and Andrea Fleuchaus of Fleuchaus & Gallo

The future of forum shopping in Europe – by Mark Ridgway and Annsley Merelle Ward of Allen & Overy

The Unitary Patent for non-litigators – by Michael Carter, Nick Smee, Luke Kempton and Nick Cunningham of Wragge Lawrence Graham

Don’t be afraid of bifurcation – by Gottfried Schüll and Arwed Burrichter of Cohausz & Florack

Rules that reflect different traditions (a response to the article above) – by Adam Cooke of DLA Piper

Other pieces we have commissioned for this series include articles on the impact for the life sciences industries, on specific issues for non-European companies and on the factors to consider when deciding whether to opt-out.

If there are more topics you would like to see covered, or you would like to contribute to this series, please email me with details.

Readers interested in the Unitary Patent and UPC might also be interested in the following links: Unitary Patent and UPC resources – a guide and Where will the UPC be based? – an updated map.

You can see all our extensive coverage, including news, analysis and interviews, at managingip.com/UPC

For this week only, readers can get a discount of up to 30% on Managing IP subscriptions: register your interest here.