After 30 years of negotiation, the European Parliament today (December 11) voted to create a Unitary Patent System that will apply throughout the EU. This new system will fundamentally impact how global companies develop and enforce their intellectual property portfolios. The agreement provides a lower cost patent process with EU-wide enforcement jurisdiction, a significant change to the current system where innovators enforce their patents on a country-by-country basis, often with variable results. In macro terms, the new system can empower innovators to block competitors throughout the EU and U.S. – which represent over 40% of the world’s GDP – with only two patents in two enforcement proceedings. Life sciences and technology companies (and their investors) with significant business in Europe need to understand this new landscape and prepare for the change. Join us as international IP lawyers from Ropes & Gray LLP discuss the structure of the new agreement, remaining steps to its implementation, and some of its implications.
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