The UK government has signalled its commitment to remain part of the Unified Patent Court (UPC), even after Brexit. The UPC is a new one-stop shop for patent litigation in the European Union. However, post-Brexit there are doubts that EU member states will allow the UK to be in the UPC.
Professor Duncan Matthews, director of Queen Mary University of London’s IP Research Institute, explains: “The UK is a global centre of excellence in the life sciences. The loss of the UPC would take away the opportunity to reduce legal costs. Without the UPC, life sciences companies would have no choice but to continue litigating their patents in national courts in the EU, which is expensive.”
Read the whole piece on Raconteur.