The Unified Patent Court (UPC) has announced that an agreement between the UPC and the EPO was signed today, the agreement providing the legal basis for facilitating the exchange of data between the EPO’s European Patent Register and the UPC’s Register. The exchange of data is necessary as the UPC will hear cases related to the infringement and validity of patents granted by the EPO, i.e. unitary patents and “classic” European patents not opted out of the UPC’s jurisdiction. The agreement will enter into force when the UPC Agreement enters into force (when the UPC opens and unitary patents may be granted). In this announcement, the UPC states that date is expected to be 1 April 2023. This remains the same as it estimated 6 weeks ago in its implementation roadmap (with the caveat that the roadmap reflected “the current state of the UPC project and therefore, might be subject to change. Any such changes, impacting key deliverables and milestones will be communicated”).