The President of the European Patent Organisation has issued a statement to reassure applicants and patentees that the referendum decision of the U.K. to leave the European Union does not affect the U.K.’s status as a contracting state of the European Patent Convention. His statement underlined that “the outcome of the referendum has no consequence on the membership of the UK to the European Patent Organisation, nor on the effect of the European Patents in the UK”. This confirms that patent protection in the U.K. can still be obtained through the European Patent Office, and that granted European patents will continue to be valid in the U.K.
Regarding the planned (European) Unitary Patent system and associated Unitary Patent Court, there will be some negotiations to determine the effect of the U.K.’s referendum vote. However, as this system is not yet in place, these negotiations will not affect current European patents or patent applications.
For more information, please contact William Murphy at william.murphy@hicksip.com.