As reported here, the beginning of the sunrise period for the Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court has been pushed back by two months to March 1, 2023 (and actual entry into force pushed back similarly to Jun 1, 2023).
The European Patent Office has announced that notwithstanding this change to the sunrise period at the UPC, its own plans for January 1, 2023 remain unchanged.
Therefore as and from January 1, 2023, any applicant who wishes to have the option of obtaining a Unitary Patent, and who has received a Communication under Rule 71(3) but not yet responded to this (i.e. the intention to grant and invitation to pay grant and printing fees), can take advantage of the following two transitional measures:
For applicants who have received a Communication under Rule 71(3), it is therefore important that they decide as soon as possible whether they would like to obtain a Unitary Patent, and if so, to file a request to delay grant after January 1 and no later than the date of approving the text for grant.
This article continues FRKelly's series on the upcoming Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court. For more details, check out the following articles:
2. What is the Unified Patent Court?
3. How to Apply for a Unitary Patent
5. Register for Unitary Patent Protection
7. What Rights Are Afforded by a Unitary Patent?
8. UPC Opt-Out
9. Opposition, Appeals and Validity of Unitary Patents
10. Will the Unified Patent Court Affect SPCs?
13. Ireland and the Unified Patent Court
14. No More Fooling Around: April 1st is UPC Launch Date
15. Unified Patent Court Costs
16. Validity Actions at the UPC
17. Assignments and Licenses Under the Unitary Patent System
18. The UK and the Unified Patent Court
19. Delay to Start of UPC Sunrise Period
