Romania becomes 18th member state of UPC

We previously reported that Romania deposited its instrument of ratification of the Unified Patent Court Agreement on 31 May 2024. Following on from this, Romania has now become the 18th member state of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) as of 01 September 2024. This means that the territorial scope of any UPs registered on or after this date will include Romania in addition to the 17 original member states.

It is important to note, however, that any UPs that were registered before 01 September 2024 will not designate Romania.

Any UP registered from now on therefore covers: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania*, Slovenia and Sweden.

*only for UPs registered on or after 01 September 2024.