When the UK officially withdrew from the UPC Agreement in 2020, it felt like a watershed moment for UK patent litigators. After all, London was due to host the life sciences Central Division as well as our own Local Division. On a personal note, PG had been heavily involved in lobbying for the UK to sign the UPC Agreement and to play a central role in the UPC. Members of the firm had contributed to the development of the various draft Rules of Procedure and a number of us were helping with the training of prospective UPC judges.
It was hard not to feel a sense of missed opportunity for the UK.
At PG, we never readily accept defeat. Rather than dwell on what might have been, we adapted. With all our partners qualifying as Irish lawyers, we opened our office in Dublin just as the UPC itself opened its doors. Sitting alongside our pre-eminent UK patent litigation practice, and bringing to bear our experience of co-ordinating and supporting patent litigation strategy across European national courts, together with our technical backgrounds, we launched ourselves into the new system.
We are pleased to have been right at the heart of the UPC action from day one, representing clients from a range of technical areas before nine different Local, Regional and Central Divisions and the Court of Appeal, in some cases several times over. It is a testament to the commitment and effort of our whole team that we were awarded Juve Patent’s inaugural UPC Firm of the Year Award, as well as MIP’s UPC Firm of the Year (UK) Award.
Without question, over the past two years the UPC has already fulfilled its promise: speed, international reach, consistency, and the technical expertise of its judiciary are drawing in the largest industry players not to mention innovative SMEs. Moreover, there is a strong sense of collaboration and community that the Court elicits, of bringing together knowledge and resources from some of the world’s leading patent venues, to create a more efficient way to resolve patent disputes for an area of high economic value, covering a large consumer base.
Looking ahead, all signs suggest continued growth and diversification in the UPC’s caseload. At PG we aim to match that growth and diversification in our own UPC practice, as we strive to deliver the most compelling offering to businesses enforcing, or defending against, patents in Europe.
