The Protocol to the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court on provisional application (PPA) entered into force on 19 January 2022, following the deposit of the instrument of ratification by Austria.
The period of provisional application serves to finalise the technical and infrastructural preparations for the Unified Patent Court. It is expected that these preparation are completed in eight months and this should allow the entry into operation of the Unitary Effect patent system before the end of the year.
The last formal step before the entry into force of the Unified Patent Court will be the deposit by Germany of its ratification instrument.
The EPO has approved transitional measures with respect to European patent applications having reached the final phase of the grant procedure allowing a request for delay of the decision to grant a European patent so that the mention of the grant in the European Patent Bulletin will be published on or immediately after the date of entry into force of the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (Decision of the President of the European Patent Office dated 22 December 2021).
For more information or any question: sgcr@sgcr.pt.
