Skip to content

News – Valedictory Address Professor Willem Hoyng / Full Text

08 May 2023

Former EPLAW President Professor Willem Hoyng delivered his valedictory address entitled ‘1 June 2023: The Unified Patent Court opens its doors! Some observations’ at Tilburg University on Friday 21 April.

“The patent community lives today after many dark years in the sunrise period in which owners of patents have to decide if after June 1st, they want to be on the sunny beaches of the UPC or prefer to live another 7 or 14 years in the dark forests of national patent litigation.

“For the whole Legal Community and I dare say for the citizens of Europe, June 1st will be an important day, and certainly if you cherish the idea as I do of a future United Nations of Europe. Why is that?”

The address can be read in full here (Word) and here (PDF).