Centre for Commercial Law Studies

Professor Duncan Matthews interviewed by The Times newspaper on the future of the Unified Patent Court

20 March 2019

The Times newspaper has published an interview with Professor Duncan Matthews of the Centre for Commercial Law Studies on the future of the Unified Patent Court.

In the interview, Professor Matthews explains that the good news is that the UK Government has signalled its commitment to remain part of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) however, post-Brexit, there are doubts over whether other EU Member States will allow the UK remain in the UPC, while a separate legal challenge in the German Constitutional Court means that the future of the UPC remains uncertain.

Professor Matthews explains that non-EU companies would be the big winners from the UPC and this would be good for the global economy because the UPC and the new way of obtaining a European Patent with unitary effect in the EU would simplify the system a great deal, removing a key barrier to market entry for non-EU companies.