Kolster's Head of Biotech and Chemistry Krister Karlsson has been elected and invited as a technical judge in the Unified Patent Court, where disputes related to the new unitary patent and the traditional European patent are settled. The court will start operating in the spring of 2023.
Kolster’s Head of Biotech and Chemistry, European patent attorney Krister Karlsson has been appointed as a technical judge of the UPC (Unified Patent Court) specialized in biotechnology. Karlsson will start his side role in the spring of 2023, when it is estimated that the operation of the new court, which has been prepared for a long time, will start.
“The appointment is a tremendously great opportunity to be involved in building and developing the operation of a brand new court from the beginning. My task is a view point for trial practices and dispute resolutions concerning the whole of Europe. And the appointment certainly warms my heart from a professional point of view as well”, summarizes Karlsson.
The UPC, i.e. the Unified Patent Court, is part of the new European patent system, where a patent can take effect with a single application and payment in all EU countries participating in the system. This Unitary Patent is applied for at the European Patent Office (EPO). Alongside it, national patents and country-specific European patents continue to exist.
UPC has 34 country-specific legal judges and 51 technical judges, each representing their own discipline. Their task is to resolve disputes related to the unitary patent and the European patent, such as invalidation and infringements. Karlsson belongs to the biotechnology group as its only Finnish member.
Karlsson has worked as a university researcher, Kolster's patent attorney between 2005 and 2010, as well as in-house patent attorney and IPR Manager positions in the oil refining industry. He returned to Kolster's service in November 2018, after having worked in market law for three years before that as a market law engineer, i.e. an expert in appeals and disputes concerning patents and utility models.
In Karlsson's expertise, extensive technological know-how in the chemical industry is combined with strong IPR strategy insight gained in industry and IPR dispute resolution experience acquired in market law.
Krister Karlsson
Associate Partner, Head of Biotech & Chemistry, European Patent Attorney
krister.karlsson@kolster.com
044 236 5676