< Back to latest news & events

News

Start of the UPC Sunrise Period delayed to 1 March 2023

December 2022

The UPC sunrise period which was expected to start on 1 January 2023 has now been postponed to 1 March 2023.

Consequently, the entry into force of the UPCA and opening of the UPC is now expected to be 1 June 2023. The delay, which was announced on the UPC website, is set to enable users to prepare themselves to use the Case Management System (CMS) and to sign documents electronically. Although the UPC has written guidelines and a list of providers to help users prepare themselves to use the CMS, many users have commented that there is not sufficient time to prepare, if the sunrise period was to have started on 1 January 2023 as originally planned.

No other changes to the UPC roadmap are expected. The UPC Rules of procedure have been adopted, the judges have been appointed and the functionalities of the CMS have been positively tested.

MORE INFORMATION HERE

Latest updates

EPO Board of Appeal decision indicates approach to Core AI Inventions

Potential obstacles to obtaining patent protection in Europe for an improvement in a general method for machine learning have been highlighted by a recent decision (T0702/20) from the EPO Board …

Read article

WIPR article - Rolex: is the trademark world its Oyster?

HGF Trade Mark Director Claire Jones comments in the WIPR article on ‘Rolex: is the trademark world it’s Oyster?’. The article written by Sarah Speight looks at how the luxury …

Read article

From Theoretical Proposals to Commercial Reality: The Rise of Innovation and Patent Filings in Quantum Computing

The possibility of quantum computing was first seriously proposed in the early 1980s and is widely regarded as having enormous potential to deliver a step change in the complexity of …

Read article
Event - 3rd February 2023

The European Patent Office are running an inspiring collaborative art competition for children

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the signing of the European Patent Convention, The European Patent Office (EPO) is running a collaborative art competition for primary schools on the topic …

Event details

Why the EPO’s top-up search for earlier national rights matters for the UP and UPC

Before unitary effect can be registered by the EPO, an applicant must first obtain a European patent via the EPO as it does in the current way. In order to …

Read article

Innovation Protection Foundering at a Critical Time in the Aircraft Engine Sector?

The technological challenges in the aircraft engine sector are, to put it mildly, considerable at present. Airframers are increasingly reliant on engine manufacturers to produce the bulk of efficiency gains …

Read article
See all updates