What is UPC?

The Unified Patent Court (UPC) is a patent court that provides centralised and unified jurisdiction for patent litigation in Europe. Currently, the UPC is supported by 25 EU member states, including Germany, France and the United Kingdom. The idea behind the UPC is to make court proceedings for patent disputes more efficient by dealing with them in a single court instead of in different national courts. The UPC also aims to improve the consistency of decisions, which is beneficial for companies and inventors. The UPC is expected to be operational soon and could help strengthen Europe as an attractive location for innovation and investment.

Step 1: Login Certificate

To log in to the Unified Patent Court (UPC), you need a certificate issued by a Trust Service Provider. The certificate is a digital ID that confirms your identity and allows you to log in securely to the UPC portal. There are various providers of qualified certificates that are recognised by the European Union (EU) and member states - including SIGN8. These certificates are issued after a rigorous audit and meet the high security requirements needed for secure authentication. If you would like to acquire a qualified certificate, you can order this from us quickly and easily online.

Step 2: Qualified electronic signature (QES)

A qualified electronic signature (QES) is required by the Unified Patent Court (UPC) for certain procedures such as filing pleadings and documents via the electronic portal. A QES is an electronic signature based on a qualified certificate that meets certain legal requirements. It enables secure identification of the parties involved and ensures the integrity and authenticity of the signed document. A QES has the same legal effect as a handwritten signature and can be used in court proceedings. So if you want to participate in the UPC portal and file pleadings or documents there that have legal implications, it is important that you have a QES. With SIGN8, you can map this QES entirely without additional hardware by means of remote signatures. Thus, thanks to the SIGN8 Wallet, you can sign the documents at any time from anywhere with the highest level of security.