Article 1

Unified Patent Court

A Unified Patent Court for the settlement of disputes relating to European patents and European patents with unitary effect is hereby established.

The Unified Patent Court shall be a court common to the Contracting Member States and thus subject to the same obligations under Union law as any national court of the Contracting Member States.

UPC Case Law

IPPT20251230, UPC CFI, CD Paris, PAPST v EPO
In its decision of 10 November 2025, the EPO rejected the request of registration of unitary effect of the patent in suit, based on the fact that the patent had not been granted for all member states of the UPC that were participating at the time the request was filed. (Malta) Request for annulment of the decision of the EPO rejected.  (Rule 97 RoP). The UPC applies EU law in its entirety and respects its primacy in accordance with Art. 1(2) and Art. 20 of the UPCA, including reviewing a decision by the EPO. Compliance with the guarantees afforded by the EU legal order in administrative proceedings is all the more important for the EPO as the competent authority, so that the question of whether the EPO is bound by EU law can be left open. Unitary effect is not tied to the designation of the states in the patent application, but rather to the grant of the European patent as the final result, as well as to the date of the request for unitary effect. (Article 142 EPC , Article 149 EPC) .