It ought to be “no news” rather than News by now. But it’s good to see a Brexit announcement from an official horses mouth.
The key takeaways from this announcement (and previous information from various sources) are:
- A European patent application, filed before or after Brexit, can contain a designation of the UK
- A PCT application filed before or after Brexit, insofar as it designates EPC, constitutes a European patent application designating the UK
- This applies regardless of when the EPC phase is lawfully entered
- A European patent issued, at any time, on such an application as mentioned in Paragraph 1 or 2 lawfully designates UK, as long as that designation is not withdrawn, and the patent is enforceable against infringements to the same extent as a UK patent granted under national legislation
- UK patent attorneys registered to practice before the EPO as European Patent Attorneys prior to the UK’s exit from the EU have the same EPC representation rights/obligations following EU exit
- A UK patent attorney who has achieved a pass in the European Patent Attorney qualifying examinations before or after the UK’s exit from the EU, and is first registered after EU exit to practice before the EPO as a European Patent Attorney, will have the same representation rights/obligations as mentioned in Paragraph 5 from the date of their registration.
In short, there’s nothing new.
It’s all very simple really: Brexit will take the UK out of the EU – but the European Patent Convention is not EU legislation, the EPO is not an EU organ and the EPO exercises an entirely non-EU jurisdiction.