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National measures relating to the Unitary Patent, I. General, Belgium

Overview

I. General

Participating Member State
Validation/Extension states
Participating Member State Belgium

1Is there any measure accompanying the implementation of the Unitary Patent

Yes

2National measure

Some amendments have been introduced in the Belgian Patent legislation through the adoption of the new Code of Economic Law (hereafter "CEL") in order to take into account the existence of the Regulations related to the Unitary Patent Protection:

  • definitions of the European patent with unitary effect and of Regulation 1257/2012 have been introduced in the list of definitions applicable to the patent chapter of the CEL (Article I.14 CEL);
  • a provision concerning the prohibition of double protection mentioned in Article 4.2 of Regulation 1257/2012 is now contained in Article XI.83, § 5, CEL.

These provisions have been introduced by the Law of 19 April 2014 and entered into force on 22 September 2014 (Royal Decree of 19 April 2014, Article 1bis). Translations are not available. This is the link to the aforementioned provisions of the Code of Economic Law (consolidated online version): ArticleArticles I.14 and XI.83 CEL (French and Dutch texts): ejustice.just.fgov.be/​eli/​loi/​2013/​02/​28/​2013A11134/​justel.

A second set of amendments has been adopted in order to:

  • align the wording of the provisions of the CEL related to the rights, exceptions and limitations with the wording of Articles 25-27 of the UPC Agreement (Articles XI.29 and XI.34 CEL);
  • provide for a safety net in case of late rejection of unitary effect in order for the right holder of a European patent to apply for national patent protection (Article XI.83/1 CEL).

While these amendments have been introduced by the Law of 19 December 2017, only the provision related to the safety net has since entered into force, on 1 February 2018. The provisions related to the rights, exceptions and limitations will enter into force on the date of entry into force of the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court.Translations are not available. This is the link to the aforementioned provision of the Code of Economic Law (consolidated online version) as well as the provisions related to the rights, exceptions and limitations having yet to enter into force: Articles XI.29, XI.34 and XI.83/1 CEL Article XI.83/1 CEL and Articles 2 to 4 of the Law of 19 December 2017 (French and Dutch texts).
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