Not unexpectedly, the grand opening of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) and thereby also the possibility to request a European Patent with unitary effect has been postponed by 2 months. This means that the sunrise period, previously announced to start on January 1, 2023, will start two months later.

The main reason for this delay is the new strong authentication which will be required to access the Case Management System (CMS) and to sign documents before the UPC. Users are still struggling to access the system and additional time for preparation is clearly needed. All other preparations for the start of the new Court are on time.

The start of the sunrise period is now expected to March 1, 2023, and the Court (UPC) will open its doors on June 1, 2023.

More information can be found here:

https://www.unified-patent-court.org/en/news/adjustment-timeline-start-sunrise-period-1-march-2023