[1]http://patentblog.kluweriplaw.com/2022/10/07/upcapril2023/

   The Unified Patent Court will finally become a reality, open its doors
   and start to receive cases from 1 April 2023. This is announced in the
   implementation roadmap, which was published yesterday by the UPC
   preparatory team and depicts all the key activities and milestones of
   the UPC in the coming months.

   The [2]roadmap also indicates the Sunrise period will start on 1
   January 2023. The following ‘Global milestones’ are mentioned:
     * MS call for contribution (PAP)- tbc: call for contribution request
       to UPC Member States for the Provisional Application Phase (PAP) if
       needed;
     * Germany ratification: the deposit of the UPCA ratification
       instrument by Germany will trigger the Sunrise period (first day of
       the following month) and the entry into force of the UPCA (3 months
       after the start of the Sunrise period);
     * Start of the Sunrise: the date of the start of the Sunrise period
       is expected to be January 1, 2023;
     * FAP budget approval & call for contribution: first accounting
       period (FAP) budget approval by the Budget Committee and subsequent
       call for contribution to UPC Member States;
     * Entry into force of the UPCA: entry into force of the UPCA and the
       opening of the Court from 1 April 2023.

   Recruitment activities will be:
     * Judges recruited: legally qualified judges (LQJ) and technically
       qualified judges (TQJ) are appointed in accordance with decision of
       the UPC Administrative Committee ;
     * Election of Presidents (CFI, CoA): Presidents are elected under
       Article 13 and 14 of the Statute ;
     * Election of Presidium: members of the Presidium are elected under
       Article 15 of the Statute. There will be four judges from the Court
       of First Instance (CFI), including the President of the CFI, and 3
       judges from the Court of Appeal (CoA), including the President of
       the CoA;
     * Presidents and other Presidium judges’ effective date of
       appointment: judges elected to be part of the Presidium will be
       appointed as soon as possible to assume their administrative
       functions;
     * Targeted & General call for judge’s application: following the
       first recruitment phase, (1) a few positions remain to be filled
       and (2) preparations are made to increase the number of judges when
       it becomes necessary by creating a reserve list of LQJs. For these
       reasons there will be (1) a targeted and (2) a general call for
       judicial applications;
     * Registrar and Deputy-Registrar appointed: Registrar and
       Deputy–Registrar are appointed by the Presidium and will start
       their activities preferably before the start of the Sunrise period;
     * Administrative staff recruited: administrative staff at the
       different divisions and at the seat are recruited to start their
       training and their activities;
     * Targeted and General interviews: interviews for both round of
       calls;
     * Appointment of selected judges: additional judges will be appointed
       to start their activities as from the opening of the court ( or to
       be placed on the reserve list as applicable);
     * Patent Mediation and Arbitration Centre staff recruited;
     * Training Center staff recruited;
     * All judges’ effective date of appointment: all judges that are not
       part of the Presidium will be appointed and will start their
       activities from the entry into force of the UPCA.

   Case Management System activities and milestones:
     * CMS self-practice: users have the possibility to use and practice
       the CMS on their own. In case of questions or issues, the UPC is
       offering a limited support. It is important to point out that the
       CMS system available is not a production one and therefore no real
       data or documents should be entered into the CMS;
     * Sunrise CMS practice: period during which the CMS system will be
       accessible to the public with the same functions as from the start
       of the Sunrise. The system will be cleaned so that users can
       validate or verify their ability to properly use the system. UPC
       teams will provide a level of support to the best of their
       capacities. It is important to point out that the CMS system
       available is not a production one and therefore no real data or
       documents should be entered into the CMS;
     * Sunrise functionalities open: the Case Management System will be
       open in production to allow users to register as representatives
       and to opt-out their patents (manually or through APIs);
     * EIF CMS practice: period where the CMS system will be accessible to
       the public with the same functions as for the entry into force. The
       system will be cleaned so that users can validate or verify their
       ability to properly use the system. UPC teams will provide a level
       of support and interactions to the best of their capacities. It is
       important to point out that the CMS system available is not a
       production one and therefore no real data or documents should be
       entered into the CMS;
     * EIF functionalities open: the CMS used for the Sunrise period will
       be upgraded with “entry into force” functionalities. From 1 April
       2023, users will have the possibility to lodge their cases within
       the Court system.

References

   1. http://patentblog.kluweriplaw.com/2022/10/07/upcapril2023/
   2. https://www.unified-patent-court.org/sites/default/files/upc_-_exco_-_upc_external_roadmap-v0.9_edit.pdf