UK-based European Patent Attorneys at the forefront of UPC representation

CIPA launches UPC taskforce

CIPA has formed a Unified Patent Court (‘UPC’) taskforce led by CIPA Vice-President, Matt Dixon, with the aim of putting UK-based European Patent Attorneys at the forefront of UPC representation. The taskforce will be working with firms and other representative organisations to promote the status of UK patent attorneys as UPC representatives internationally, particularly in the USA. As part of this effort, the taskforce has put together the following list of seven reasons why we expect UK patent attorneys to be at the forefront of UPC representations, which we will use continually in future communications and publicity.

1. The Unified Patent Court is a greenfield site. This is a brand-new system that is not based on any other. No one has more experience of the Court than UK patent attorneys.
2. There is a large community of UK patent attorneys authorised to represent before the UPC. 85% of UPC representatives are patent attorneys and London is the city with the second largest concentration of UPC representatives in Europe. One in every five registered UPC representatives is a UK-based European Patent Attorney.
3. The UPC is similar to EPO oppositions and appeals, in which UK representatives have a strong reputation. The majority of US patentees’ oppositions are defended by UK representatives and about half of oppositions filed by US companies use UK representatives.
4. English is the most prevalent language of the Court. Every division of the Court has English as a language of proceedings.
5. UK patent attorneys are used to working with clients and judges from outside the UK. More than 80% of oppositions defended by UK representatives are for non-UK and Appeal Board members are from other European countries.
6. UK patent attorneys have national rights of representation before the UK patent courts, which hear infringement and validity together. All UK patent attorneys have been entitled to act as advocates in the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court since 1990. More than 70% of surveyed CIPA members have at least some experience of litigation.
7. The UK already has a reputation for high-quality litigation. The IP framework in the UK ranks second only to the US according to the International IP Index published by the US Chamber of Commerce. The first revocation action before the UPC was filed by a UK firm.

If you are interested in finding out more about the UPC taskforce or would like to be involved, please contact Emily Jones.