It has just been announced that the start of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) is being moved back two months. The start of the Sunrise Period will now be 1 March 2023, rather than 1 January 2023, as originally planned.

Unless things change again, the official start of the UPC will thus be 1 June 2023.

The delay is said to be to “…allow future users to prepare themselves for the strong authentication which will be required to access the Case Management System (CMS) and to sign documents”.

For advice on the UPC and how it may affect your patents or applications, please contact one of our experts or take a look at our guide to the unitary patent.