News: Administrative Committee of Unified Patent Court established

Alexander Ramsay (SE) is appointed Chairman of the Administrative Committee of the Unified Patent Court, Johannes Karcher (DE) is appointed Vice-Chairman After Austria became the 13th member state to deposit its ratification for the Protocol on the Provisional Application of the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (UPC) on 18 January 2022, the Protocol (PPA) on 19 January 2022 took effect.

The Preparatory Committee for the establishment of the EPC subsequently started the preparatory phase. The day before yesterday, 22 February 2022, a historic step on the way to the Unified Patent Court was taken with the inaugural meeting of the Administrative Committee of the Court in Luxembourg, the seat of the Court of Appeal.

The first steps were the adoption of the Rules of Procedure of the Committee, the Rules for European Patent Jurisdiction (Rules of Procedure), the Rules on Appropriate Qualification (Litigation Certificate), the Service and Staff Regulations of the Court and the Financial Regulations.

The Contracting States elected Mr Alexander Ramsay (SE) as Chairman of the Committee and Mr Johannes Karcher (DE) as Vice-Chairman.

A preparatory phase of at least eight months is assumed for the appointment of approximately 90 judges and also the other staff of the court. Interviews with first candidates for judges for the court are expected to be held at end of march 2022. The interviews will be conducted by the Advisory Committee, whose members have also been appointed by the Administrative Committee.

“With the Administrative Committee, the Unified Patent Court becomes able to act. This is another essential step for the court to start its work,” says Dr Christof Augenstein. “Companies and especially patent owners should now start to deal with the new rules.”