As a new significant development in the new court system to be established, the jurisdiction of the Unified Patent Court shall extend even to non EU countries.

This is due to several amendments to the “long arm jurisdiction provision” which was introduced by the Brussels I Regulation and extended by EU Regulation No. 1215/2012. These amendments are announced as Regulation No. 542/2014 of 15 May 2014. According to IP specialist Pierre Véron, the amendments will have a substantial influence in practice as “the proprietor of a European Patent infringed across several countries, including non EU countries like Turkey, will obtain a compensation through a single suit in the EU, before the UPC.

It is also important from a theoretical standpoint as it introduces in EU law the concept of asset-based jurisdiction”.