The website for the Preparatory Committee for the Unified Patent Court has just been updated with a progress report. Some highlights from the report are as follows:

1) The Select Committee which is supervising the EPO’s activities related to the unitary patent package is aiming to finalise the Rules related to Unitary Patent Protection on 24th June. The current draft (which is now quite old, can be found here. Previous IPcopy articles are here and here). The Select Committee is also working on the level of renewal fees and has been running “simulations of scenarios for the level of renewal fees and their financial implications”. The meeting on 24th June will continue the fee discussions.

2) A public hearing on the Rules of Procedure of the UPC is coming in the autumn of this year. This will be preceded by the publication of the 17th draft of the Rules of Procedure.

3) European Patent Litigation Certificate. Page 8 of the progress report notes that:

a short consultation (6 weeks) on the Rules of the European Patent Litigation Certificate will be launched via the UPC website shortly. This consultation will allow users to engage on a subject that is fundamentally important to how they operate before the Court

4) Financial regulations are expected to be adopted next month and (another) consultation launched by the end of the year on a proposal for the Court fees.

5) The revised roadmap for delivering the Court is described as “still ambitious”!

Mark Richardson  9 June 2014