Romania joins the UPC on 1 September 2024

As previously reported, Romania will join the Unified Patent Court (UPC) on 1 September 2024. As a consequence, the jurisdiction of the UPC will, from that date, also cover Romania, an additional market of approximately 19 million consumers.

When the UPC first opened its doors on 1 June 2023, 17 European Union member states (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia and Sweden) ratified the Unified Patent Court Agreement. As the UPC has jurisdiction over European patent validations in its member states, it can rule on issues such as infringement and validity of these patents, and issue preliminary measures. The UPC has enjoyed great popularity and decisions and orders by the various divisions are keenly watched and generally well-reasoned. Legal grey areas that inevitably exist when any new system is introduced have thus far been swiftly addressed and clarified as necessary.

With Romania joining the UPC system, litigants can now request that UPC orders and decisions are also extended to the territory. Romania joining so soon after the court opened its doors came as a surprise to some and may bode well for the remaining European Union member states that had originally indicated their intention to accede to the UPC agreement to ratify it soon.

A further consequence of Romania joining is that from 1 September 2024, the recently introduced Unitary Patent will also cover the country. This change means that from 1 September a second generation of Unitary Patents will come to life. It is to be noted that any Unitary Patent granted before 1 September 2024 does not, and will not cover Romania in the future. Such coverage is reserved to later granted Unitary Patents. The territories by a given Unitary Patent can easily be identified from the relevant Unitary Patent Register entry or indeed from the front page of the Unitary Patent itself.