For technical reasons, the Unified Patent Court (UPC) has decided to postpone the start of the “sunrise period” to March 1, 2023.
During this period, owners of European patents and patent applications may opt out from the exclusive jurisdiction of the JUB (“opt-out”), before the agreement on the unified patent jurisdiction enters into force in June 1, 2023.
The Unitary Patent will therefore be operational on June 1, 2023.
Despite the revised timeline, the starting date for the transitional measures offered by the European Patent Office (EPO) remains unchanged. Starting January 1, 2023, early requests can be filed with the EPO for early unitary effect or for postponing the decision of grant until after June 1, 2023.
