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Institute of Professional Representatives before the European Patent Office

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Policy for news items on the epi website

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Update concerning the Professional Liability Insurance IPRISK

December 19, 2022

The UP/UPC is getting closer and will most probably come into force on June 1, 2023. This implies that for your clients you will have to deal as from the 1st of January 2023 with filing a request at the EPO for unitary effect and, if applicable, a delay for issuing the decision to grant the European patent. You will also have to deal, most probably as from the 1st of March 2023, with lodging applications to opt out, respectively to opt in, with the UPC for one or more of the granted European patents of your client. All this is additional work for you as a European patent attorney and of course you want to know if this work is also covered by your professional liability insurance.

epi has informed RMS, the broker in charge of handling the Professional Liability Insurance IPRISK, about the upcoming UP/UPC and has discussed with them the consequences this will have for the Professional Liability insurance IPRISK. RMS also has informed the insurance company about the upcoming UP/UPC.

We are happy to inform you that epi and RMS share the point of view that this additional work has to be qualified as being part of the work to be done by a European patent attorney and has therefore to be covered by the Professional Liability Insurance IPRISK. We informed the insurance company about our point of view and we are happy to inform you that the insurance company shares this point of view. This thus signifies that the Professional Liability Insurance IPRISK made available by RMS to epi members will thus cover the work involved by filing a request at the EPO for unitary effect and a delay for issuing the decision to grant the European patent, as well as lodging applications to opt out with the UPC.

For what concerns our Colleagues who will act before the Unified patent Court, we are still in discussion with the insurance company how this work should be covered by the Professional Liability Insurance IPRISK and we will of course keep you informed as soon as those discussions has come to an end.

Claude Quintelier
Chair of the IPRISK Insurance Working Group

Guiseppe Antonuzzo
RMS

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