The UPC Preparatory Committee has announced that it is working to a timetable that would bring the Court into operation in December 2017. On this timetable, it would be possible to exercise any desired opt out of European patents starting in early September 2017. The Committee’s press announcement goes on to add that the timetable is conditional on a number of factors, not least the completion of ratifications of the UPC Agreement.
The decision on whether to opt patents out of the UPC system can be complex and require substantial analysis; patent owners may wish to ensure that they have planned for completing this task by the end of November 2017.
The press announcement, made on 16 January 2017, is here.
