After almost three years of the Unified Patent Court (the UPC), the Unitary Patent (UP) Guidelines are being further refined, with the new amendments coming into force as of 1 April 2026.
Helpfully, a marked-up version of the 2026 guidelines, demonstrating the changes made against the previous 2025 version, is available now via the EPO. Almost every section of the guidelines has seen tweaks or additions. As confidence continues to grow in the UP system and the UPC, current and future users of the system will be pleased to see that significant effort is being made to increase clarity on points of procedure and any legal basis, with a greater level of detail being provided where appropriate.
If you wish to discuss any part of the new guidelines and how they might affect ongoing Unitary Patent matters or your portfolio as a whole, please reach out to your regular Boult representative. Find out more about our work here.
