JIPLP special issue to celebrate the first anniversary of the UPC

The Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice (JIPLP) is delighted to announce a special issue to celebrate the first anniversary of the Unified Patent Court (UPC). The special issue, which will be published later this year, will be jointly edited by (in alphabetical order) Stefano Barazza (JIPLP editor), Penny Gilbert (Powell Gilbert), Tilman Müller-Stoy (Bardehle Pagenberg), and Christopher Stothers (Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer).

Interested authors are invited to submit articles that focus on the lessons learnt during the first year of operation of the UPC. We are particularly interested in articles analysing substantive or procedural matters in light of the emerging case law of the UPC (e.g. transparency and public access to documents, provisional measures, service of documents, claim construction, bifurcation, language of proceedings, expert evidence, internal coherence/consistency, etc.). We also encourage contributions that, on the basis of the UPC experience so far, focus on broader aspects, such as litigation strategy, the role of the UPC in the global patent system, the relationship between the UPC and other courts/jurisdictions, preliminary evaluations of its effectiveness and overall functioning, or suggestions for improvements to the UPC system. While empirical and statistical studies are welcome, please note that these must be accompanied by a substantive legal analysis.

Articles should have a length comprised between 3,000 and 8,000 words (footnotes included) and comply with JIPLP author guidelines. Please note that JIPLP uses OSCOLA as its citation style.

The deadline for submissions, which can be only made through the JIPLP submission site, falls on the first UPC anniversary, 1 June 2024. No late submissions can be considered for this special issue.

JIPLP is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal, so all the articles received will undergo a review process. In this sense, submission of an article will not automatically entail its acceptance for publication.

For any questions and/or to inquire about the suitability of a certain topic/angle, please contact JIPLP’s Managing Editor, Sarah Harris, by email.

We look forward to receiving your contributions!