In an article for World Intellectual Property Review (WIPR), commentators discuss their IP predictions for 2022, and in particular developments relating to the Unified Patent Court (UPC).
Oxon IP Director Leythem Wall is cited as follows:
This year will undoubtedly be dominated by strategies gearing towards the UPC, now that it is genuinely back on track, agrees Leythem Wall, director of Oxon IP. This focus, he predicts, could see companies filing European Patent Office divisional applications to be filed as companies test the new system. Meanwhile, others will deliberately stall the prosecution of EPO applications, by taking extensions or using further processing to delay a grant in time for the unitary patent so they can benefit from a potentially significant cost saving in validation and renewal fees.
“If the UPC ‘sunrise period’ comes into play in 2022, then we shall also see a wave of European patents being opted out of the system. I would expect a wave of UPC revocation actions being filed,” he reflects.
Wall also anticipates that the UPC will see more non-EU firms, based in the US, UK, Switzerland or Norway opening offices in a UPC member state. “If Milan or The Hague/Amsterdam is selected to replace the London UPC central division, then this will likely be the city/country of choice for new offices,” he predicts.
The WIPR article can be viewed here
