June 2024 Romania will join the UPC on 1 September 2024
On 31 May 2024, the Romanian government deposited its instrument of ratification of the UPC Agreement with the Council of the European Union, meaning that Romania will become the 18th member of the Unitary Patent System on 1 September 2024. Thus, those validating their European patents with unitary effect are advised to request a delay to registration of their unitary patents to ensure Romania is covered.
When the European Union’s new Unified Patent Court (“UPC”) opened for business in June last year, its jurisdiction only extended to 17 of the 27 EU Member States. A further 7 Member States committed to joining at a later date, with Croatia, Spain, and Poland opting out altogether.
Since then, the Romanian parliament has ratified the UPC Agreement, and the Romanian government thus deposited its instrument of ratification with the Council of the European Union on 31 May 2024. This means Romania will become the Unitary Patent System’s 18th member this September.
Accordingly, the UPC will have jurisdiction for European patents validated in Romania and not opted out of the jurisdiction of the UPC from 1 September 2024.
Similarly, unitary patents having a date of registration on or after 1 September 2024 will cover Romania, although it is worth noting that unitary patents having registration dates before this date will not. Hence, to enable proprietors of recently-granted European patents to benefit from this change, the European Patent Office has decided to allow those filing requests for unitary effect to also request a delay of registration until on or after 1 September 2024 – but note the request for unitary effect must nonetheless be filed within 1 month of the grant date of the European patent, and cannot similarly be delayed until September.
The diagram below provides an overview of the European patent system as it will stand from 1 September 2024, with countries grouped according to whether they are (i) contracting states of the EPC only, (ii) contracting states of the EPC and Member States of the EU with no current intention to join the Unitary Patent System, (iii) contracting states of the EPC and Member States of the EU that have signalled their intention to join the Unitary Patent System, or (iv) contracting states of the EPC and Member States of the EU participating in the Unitary Patent System.
If you have any questions about the EU’s new Unified Patent Court or the unitary patent as a validation option for your European patent, then Schlich would be happy to work with you to help you navigate this new system.
