This report contains the most recent developments and actual status of the main IP chapters of the EU.
The start of the Unified Patent Court/Unitary Patent (UPC/UP) system on 1 June 2023 (including the “sunrise period” from 1 March 2023 to 31 May 2023) with the UPC starting action and the European Patent Office (EPO) as administrative authority for granting unitary effect for European patents.
The EPO introduced procedural amendments “to support digital transformation” and introduced new Regulation on the European Qualifying Examination (REE), taking effect on 1 January 2025
On 28 April 2023, the EU Commission proposed legislation for the following projects:
- Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs) (proposals for four EU-Regulations)
- Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) (proposal for a EU-Regulations)
- Compulsory Licenses for Crisis Management (proposal for a EU-Regulations)
- Revised EU Pharma Legislation
which are still under heavy discussions in the EU.
A proposal for a new EU regulation by the EU Commission “on plants obtained by certain new genomic techniques and their food and feed” was accepted on 7 February 2024 by the EU Parliament with a series of modifications and amendments. Crucially, the European Parliament suggests to introduce a full ban on patents for plants provided by “New Genomic Techniques” (NGTs), as well as plant material, parts thereof, genetic information and process features.
The relevant documents are summarised in the Report.