PATENT | The EPO on the status of the operation for the unitary patent system and UPC

On 20 May 2024, one year after the introduction of the unitary patent system, the European Patent Office (EPO) indicated that more than 28,000 applications for unitary effect had been filed and more than 27,500 unitary patents had been registered. Furthermore, the EPO’s statistics and trends centre reported that European companies are among the main supporters of the new system, followed by the United States, China, Japan and South Korea. Italy ranks sixth in terms of the origin of applicants. The Unified Patent Court (“UPC”), which started its operation on 1 June 2023, has already handled 373 court cases, including five cases lodged before the Milan local division.

Newsletter n. 97 – June 2024