The European patent with unitary effect and the UPC entered into force on June 1, 2023, whereas the EPLA proposal has been dropped.
[2] A "Protocol on the Interpretation of Article 69 EPC"[3] provides further guidance, that claims are to be construed using a "fair" middle position, neither "strict, literal" nor as mere guidelines to considering the description and drawings, though of course even the protocol is subject to national interpretation.
The EPC requires that national courts must consider the "direct product of a patented process" to be an infringement.
[7][8] Not only the national judicial procedures differ, the litigation costs and duration may significantly vary from one country to another.
In two cases in July 2006 interpreting Articles 6.1 and 16.4 of the Brussels Convention, the European Court of Justice held that European patents are national rights that must be enforced nationally, that it was "unavoidable" that questions regarding validity and the registration of the same European patent have to be litigated in each relevant national court, even if the lawsuit is against the same group of companies, and that cross-border injunctions regarding validity are not available.