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UPC » New UPC Central Division location announced to be Milan

Jo Pelly, Partner, wrote recently about the Unified Patent Court’s division of work between its Central Divisions in the article: UPC Central Divisions How will the split work between Paris and Munich?

This brought some clarity following the confusion caused by the UK leaving the EU which necessitated a redistribution of the cases originally earmarked for the London Central Division.  While this clarity helps us in the short term, further changes are now on the horizon following the latest announcement that Milan is to host a third branch of the Central Division.

The new branch of the Central Division has been agreed between the Italian, German and French governments, and now requires acceptance from the other UPC member states before being formalised. Once approved, there will need to be a further redistribution of cases in advance of its opening which is expected in around a year’s time.

The London Central Division was assigned cases relating to human necessities, chemistry, metallurgy and pharmaceuticals, but it remains to be seen if all, some or none of these cases will be transferred to the new Milan Central Division. We will of course keep you up to date as more news emerges.

Relevant sectors
Aerospace
  • Commercial aviation
  • Defence and security
  • Space and satellites
  • Unmanned aerial vehicles
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
Automotive
  • Autonomous vehicles
  • Electric vehicles
  • Engines
Biotechnology
  • Antibody engineering
  • Antibody manufacture and formulation
  • Bioinformatics
  • Biosimilars
  • Drug delivery
  • Gene editing (e.g. CRISPR)
  • Genomic and molecular tools and methods
  • GM crops
  • Immuno-oncology (e.g. checkpoint inhibitors; modified T cells)
  • Next generation sequencing
  • Nucleic acid synthesis
  • Personalised medicine/disease biomarkers
  • Recombinant protein production and purification
  • Stem cell therapies
  • Supplementary protection certificates (SPCs)
  • Synthetic biology
  • Therapeutic antibodies
  • Vaccinology (e.g. viral vectors; mRNA vaccines)
  • Women’s health products
Chemicals
  • Agrochemicals
  • Catalysts
  • Dispersions and colloids
  • Lubricants
  • Polymers and plastics
Communications and Networks
  • Cloud computing
  • Internet of things (IOT)
  • Oceanography, marine
  • Wired and wireless networks
Computing and Software
  • Artificial intelligence and machine learning
  • Bioinformatics
  • Blockchain and distributed ledgers
  • Communications and networks
  • Computer games
  • Data and software security, cryptography and digital rights management (DRM)
  • Data management and storage, databases and data compression
  • Digital assistants, virtual assistants and software agents
  • Fintech and adtech
  • Machine vision
  • Metaverse, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR)
  • Motor capture
  • Multimedia, audio/video processing and animation
  • Natural language processing
  • Quantum computing
  • Robotic process automation
  • Search engines
  • Signal processing
  • Software applications and systems, mobile applications, user interfaces
Consumer Goods and Retail
  • Anti-counterfeit devices
  • Beauty
  • Fashion
  • Health, fitness and sport
  • Household goods
  • Luxury goods
  • Moda
  • Retail
Electronics and Electrical Devices
  • Computer and IT architecture and system design
  • Medical devices
  • Optics
  • Restaurants and bars
  • Robotics
  • Scientific instruments
  • Semiconductor devices
  • Testing systems, control systems, signal processing
  • Travel and leisure
  • Wearable tech and human interfaces
Energy and Green Technologies
  • Biofuels
  • Clean air
  • Fuel cells and battery technology
  • Renewables and recycling
  • Solar power
  • Water, oil and gas, nuclear, fusion, fission
  • Wind turbines
Food and Beverage
  • Beverages
  • Nutrition
  • Retail
Industrial Manufacturing and Processing
  • Packaging
  • Polymers and plastics
  • Printing tech
  • Additive manufacturing
  • Coatings
  • Construction
Materials
  • Advanced materials
  • Composite materials
  • Metallurgy and alloys
  • Nanotechnology
Medical Devices and Diagnostics
  • Artificial intelligence
  • Devices
  • Diagnostic instruments
  • Digital health
  • Drug delivery
  • Immuno-oncology
  • In vitro diagnostics
  • Medtech
Pharmaceuticals
  • Diagnostics
  • Drug delivery
  • Generic market entry
  • Medicinal chemistry
  • Methods of production and synthesis
  • Personalised medicine/disease biomarkers
  • Pharmaceutical formulations
  • Pharmaceuticalsceutical formulations
  • Polymorphs
  • Small molecule pharmaceuticals
  • Supplementary protection certificates (SPCs)
Trade Marks
  • Consumer goods
  • Cosmetics and perfumery
  • Financial services
  • Mechanical engineering
  • Mechanical products
  • Services
  • Telecommunications