A New Era of Patent Practice and Litigation in Europe—The EU Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court

The Unitary Patent System and Unified Patent Court (‘UPC’) will bring significant changes in European patent practice. Patent owners will have the option to apply for a European Patent with Unitary Effect ('Unitary Patent') to avoid the costs of validating the patent in individual countries in the European Union. A new centralized court system, the UPC, will be created to act as a single forum for disputes relating to Unitary Patents as well as ‘classical’ European patents granted under the current system, thus reducing the cost and complexity of patent litigation in Europe. While these appear to be welcome changes for those with patent portfolios and wishing to enforce their rights in Europe, they are not without concerns.

In this seminar, Finnegan Europe attorney Martin D. Hyden, along with Naoki Yoshida of Finnegan’s Tokyo office, shall provide a detailed outline of these major changes as well as strategic considerations and what preparations need to be made now. Topics to be covered include:

• A review of granting procedures before the EPO, and current litigation options for ‘classical’ European patents
• Fundamentals and Costs of the Unitary Patent and the UPC; Infringement Actions and Revocations Actions in Detail; Interaction with EPO Oppositions and Forum Shopping
• Ownership and Licensee Considerations; Freedom to Operate in Europe under the New System and Opting out of the New System
• Possible options for new countries joining the EU, Unitary Patent & UPC; or for countries leaving (“Brexit”)

RSVP: Please register by Friday, 15 July 2016.

Date & Location:

Friday, 22 July 2016

KDDI Otemachi Building 22F
Tokyo