The Unitary Patent Program: A Year of Success and Challenges
The European Patent Office (EPO) has marked the first anniversary of the unitary patent system, which began on June 1, 2023. Over the past year, the EPO registered more than 27,500 unitary patents, accounting for about 25% of all European patents granted in that time. The Unified Patent Court (UPC), which also began operations a year ago, has handled 373 cases, though technical problems have posed challenges.
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The EPO's Innovative Resources for Space Technology Patents
The European Patent Office (EPO) has started a specialized platform for developers, offering streamlined access to patent information pertaining to space technology. The platform is tailored for space-related inventions and grants users straightforward access to a wide array of patent documents covering more than 60 technical areas within cosmonautics and space observation. To further aid users, patent examiners have crafted sophisticated search strategies for Espacenet, the premier patent literature database.
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