On December 5th, the president of the Unified Patent Court announced the postponement of the start date of the Sunrise Period to next March 1st, 2023, which in turn entails the deferment of the entry into force of the Agreement for the Unified Court of Patents as of June 1st, 2023.
Therefore, it will be next March (and not this January) when the Sunrise Period begins. This period is the three-month authorized period before the entry into force of the Agreement for the Unified Patent Court so that the holders/owners of European applications and patents can previously request the exclusion of the Opt-out from the jurisdiction of the Unified Patent Court.
The purpose of the postponement is to provide future users of the system with additional time to obtain the necessary accreditations to access the Case Management System (or “CMS”) of the Unified Patent Court, as well as the qualified electronic signature of documents.
According to the information provided by the president of the Unified Patent Court, the preparatory work for the entry into force of the new system is on track, so no additional delays are expected beyond June 1st, 2023.
For further information, don’t hesitate to contact us.
