The UPC in European Patent Litigation Strategy - An Advanced Guide

Introduction

A new patent litigation system in Europe began on 1 June 2023.

This combines the existing system of parallel patent litigation in the European national courts with a new pan-European patent right - the European patent with unitary effect (Unitary Patent) - and a new pan-European court - the Unified Patent Court.

As a result, patent owners and their third-party competitors who are considering patent litigation - either enforcing or defending patents, or both - need to prepare on the basis that they may have to do so, at least in part, in the UPC.

This virtual classroom seminar will provide you with an advanced guide to the key features of the new system, building on the basic features of strategic significance in the UPC, to cover forum shopping, the use of the English court and a worked example of how an action could play out in Europe for both enforcement and defence in a hypothetical scenario.

What You Will Learn

This live and interactive session will cover the following:

• The key features of the UPC relevant to strategy:
• The structure of the UPC divisions and their significance
• The dual-track jurisdiction between the UPC and the national courts for European patents during the transitional period
• The Unitary Patent compared to European patents and national patents
• The UPC's relationship with the CJEU and EPO
• How panels of judges are constituted, who the judges are and the significance of this
• Preliminary injunctions and search orders
• A procedural overview of a UPC action up to trial
• How opt-out and withdrawal of opt-out works
• Strategic pros and cons of using the UPC and the Unitary Patent
• The UPC jurisdictional rules and forum shopping:
• The rules on where to file an infringement action
• The rules on where to file a revocation action
• Joint actions, bifurcation, and their consequences
• The risk of an injunction gap or 'reverse' injunction gap
• Strategic considerations when forum shopping
• The potential strategic role of the English Patent Court in the new system:
• Enhanced persuasive power of English judgments
• Direct relevance of English patent revocations to preliminary measures in the UPC
• Direct relevance of English patent revocations to bifurcation decisions in the UPC
• Can English proceedings be expedited in aide of a UPC action?
• Potential cross-border actions from the English court
• Declaratory actions, Arrows, and FRAND
• Putting the above issues together in a worked enforcement and defensive hypothetical scenario

Recording of live sessions: Soon after the Learn Live session has taken place you will be able to go back and access the recording - should you wish to revisit the material discussed.