Unified Patent Court: Sunrise Period opens on 1 March 2023

In a major landmark on the road towards entry into effect of the Unified Patent Court Agreement, the Sunrise Period opens on 1 March 2023.

We are delighted to announce that Beck Greener has been recognised as a Silver Tier firm for prosecution and strategy in the 2023 edition of the World Trademark Review (WTR) 1000: The World’s Leading Trademark Professionals for the 5th consecutive year.

With the recent announcement of the delay to the implementation of the UPC Agreement to 1 June 2023, and the start of the “Sunrise Period” to 1 March 2023, the EPO has announced that two transitional measures previously signaled at the start of 2022 will come into force on 1 January 2023.

Instruments of accession to the Madrid Protocol were filed by Belize on 24 November 2022 with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva, taking the number of countries covered by the Madrid System of International Trade Marks to 129 countries.

The roadmap for the UPC has been postponed by two months.

The EPO has decided, following completion of a pilot project, that from 1 January 2023 video conference (VICO) will be the default format for Oral proceedings in opposition. The practice of recent months and years is here to stay.

The EPO has announced that it has updated its mailing period rules. The update will end the current mailing period arrangements with effect from 1 November 2023.

Beck Greener has been ranked as a leading firm in the Intellectual Property: Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys UK-wide section of the legal directory Chambers & Partners for the 4th year running.

After many years of discussion, preparation, and recent delays, it has finally been announced that the Unified Patent Court Agreement (UPCA) will come into effect on 1 April 2023, with the so-called Sunrise Period beginning on 1 January 2023.

Any publicly available, enabling disclosure that occurs before the filing or priority date of a patent application before the European Patent Office (EPO) is currently novelty destroying (unless there has been a breach of confidence). A grace period in which a patent application can still be filed following a disclosure of the invention by the applicant itself exists in a number of countries but there is no equivalent provision in the European Patent Convention (EPC). In June 2022, the EPO released a report reviewing the impact that implementing a grace period in Europe would have for applicants. The purpose of the review was to provide an evidence-based assessment for the potential economic impact of the introduction of a grace period in Europe.

Beck Greener has once again been highly ranked by the Legal 500 for patents and trade marks.

This case study details how Beck Greener helped White Motorcycle Concepts turn an idea into a real-world business, supported by patent applications, which revolutionised the electric motorbike market.

A new global sequence listing standard came recently came into force, replacing the existing WIPO ST.25. As of 1 July 2022, sequence listings in all new PCT and national/regional applications must comply with ST.26.

Beck Greener Partner Jon Markham worked with Rob White, founder of White Motorcycle Concepts to create a patent application to cover an innovative aerodynamic concept. Rob’s idea was to create a ground-breaking aerodynamic motorcycle by opening up the bike with a channel of air flowing from the front to the rear of the bike, decreasing the drag and reducing CO2 emissions. This innovative aerodynamic concept is set to revolutionise the electric vehicle market.

Beck Greener has been ranked by IAM Patent 1000 for patent prosecution in the IAM Patent 1000 listings for the second year running. This ranking from IAM Patent 1000 means that Beck Greener is highly praised by sources and amongst the most competitive in the field.

We are delighted to announce that we have just launched our new website.

With Germany expected to deposit its instrument of ratification of the Unified Patent Court Agreement (UPCA) in the coming months, it is predicted that the Unitary Patent Package (UPP) may enter into force in late 2022 or early 2023.

A requirement of the EPO Guidelines for Examination (H-V, 2.7 and F-IV, 4.3(iii)) is that the description of a patent must be in conformity with the claims. During prosecution of an application, it is usual practice for the applicant to request that changes to the description only be made once the examiner has agreed to an allowed set of claims.

Chile and Cape Verde deposited their instruments of accession to the Madrid Protocol with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva on 4 and 6 April 2022 respectively, meaning the Madrid System of International Trade Marks now covers 128 countries.