브렉시트 이후 유럽특허제도의 변화와 전망

For decades, Europe has awaited a single EU patent system. Such aspirations finally seemed in reach, with the unitary patent and Unified Patent Court(UPC) package on the home stretch and set to become operative in 2017. However, on June 23 2016 the United Kingdom electorate voted in a referendum against all expectations to leave the European Union, commonly referred to as ‘Brexit’. Despite the Brexit vote, the UK pleased and surprised some of its European Union partners last November by pledging to ratify a new, unified patent system for the bloc. Thus Brexit will not automatically put an end to the long-awaited unitary patent package project, this uncertainty will certainly have some negative impact on the launching of the unitary patent. Even if the patent package eventually enters into force, it is currently unforeseeable as to whether it will do so with or without the United Kingdom. The UK’s membership to the unitary patent could be short-lived, the situation could get further complicated. It would depend on the solution agreed between the EU and the UK after exiting the internal market. Despite of this uncertainty, many companies are waiting for a unitary patent system to register invention easier and less costly and a unified patent court to solve disputes in one instance and avoid multiple litigation cases in up to 28 different national courts. Thus, it is the right time for our applicants to review their European patent filing strategy. This study sheds light on the mechanism of single EU patent system and the impact of Brexit on unitary patent package for Europe. This will help our companies to find directions to go further.