New European Patent

On 17 December 2012, following a complex negotiation which lasted 12 years, the European Parliament adopted Regulations (EU) 1257/2012 and 1260/2012 and the text of the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (UPC Agreement). These instruments institute the ''European patent with unitary effect'', the first unified system for the protection of inventions within the European Union. The two Regulations ...