The European Union’s new Unified Patent Court is an international body set up by participating EU Member States to deal with the infringement and validity of both Unitary Patents and European patents. The court’s objective is “putting an end to costly parallel litigation and enhancing legal certainty.”

Unitary patents are intended to make it possible to get patent protection in up to 25 EU Member States by submitting a single request to the European Patent Office, making the procedure simpler and more cost-effective for applicants. The new system goes live on June 1, 2023.

What must U.S. and multinational U.S.-based companies understand about the court?

Why should inventors and their organizations factor it into any existing or new patent strategy they may be developing?

For answers to these questions and more, listen to my interview with attorneys Marianne Schaffner and Thierry Lautier, who practice out of the Paris office of Reed Smith. Marianne heads the Intellectual Property team in Paris and the patent practice in Europe. She manages complex national and transnational patent, trade secrets, and trademark disputes in the healthcare, chemistry, technology, and telecommunications sectors. Thierry is part of the firm’s global Intellectual Property Group. With a dual legal and engineering/scientific background, Thierry uses his understanding, knowledge, and experience to provide clients with creative, technically robust, and business-oriented patent strategies.

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Tom Hagy
Litigation Enthusiast and
Host of the Emerging Litigation Podcast
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Our Guests

Marianne Schaffner
Marianne SchaffnerReed Smith
Thierry Lautier
Thierry LautierReed Smith

Your Host

Tom Hagy
Tom HagyEditor-in-Chief
Tom Hagy is host and producer of the Emerging Litigation Podcast, now approaching its 120th episode with more than 15,000 downloads, along with thousands of additional views on the HB Litigation News YouTube channel. He edits a litigation blog that ranked as the most read in its category on JD Supra in 2025 and regularly writes about emerging legal issues for the HB website.
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