UNITARY PATENT

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The Unitary Patent, also known as the European Patent with Unitary Effect, – is a type of legal title that offers unified protection in 17 European nations through a single point of contact. Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia and Sweden have already ratified the agreement on the UP, with Croatia, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Greece, Cyprus, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia currently expected to join the system. In due course, this procedure will provide patent protection in as many as 25 EU Member States with a single request made to the EPO.

Advantages of the UP

The UP facilitates the enforcement of patents and ensures uniform protection and equal effect in all participating Member States. Another advantage is that the maintenance fees of the Unitary Patent are lower than the sum of the renewal fees for national patents of the corresponding area.

Furthermore, the Unitary Patent Court, which operates in tandem with the UP System, is designed to offer a centralized litigation process for both UPs and EPs. Since litigation can now be undertaken in a common court that covers all UP System member states rather than the prior practice of rights owners having to litigate in separate jurisdictions individually, this will likely help to increase legal certainty and consistency.

How to file the UP?

To obtain a UP, an applicant will first get a European patent by filing an application at the EPO. Once it is granted, the applicant will then file a request for unitary effect within one month. This term cannot be extended, yet it is possible to restore it within two months after the expiry. The UP may be requested for any European patent granted on or after 1 June 2023.

A European patent must be granted with an identical set of claims across all participating Member States.

For granted European patents, the Unitary patent obtainment process should take about 12 months, if the prosecution process runs smoothly.

Applications for UP can be prosecuted in any of the official languages of the EPO, namely English, German, or French. Specifications must be translated into English (if EP was filed in German or French) or into any of the 24 official languages of the EU (if originally filed EP was in English). Compensation for translation costs is available for SMEs, natural persons, non-profit organisations, universities, and public research organisations of an EU Member State.

There is no official fee for the request for unitary effect. All the fees relating to the grant of a European patent have to be paid to the EPO.

The procedure of obtaining the UP

Having received the request for a unitary effect, the EPO will determine whether the patent is granted in the EPO and whether the application for a unitary patent is prepared in compliance with the Rules.

After the successful completion of the examination, the EPO will grant a Unitary Patent and inform the applicant of the date of registration. The validity term of a Unitary Patent is 20 years from the filing date.

Limits of the UP

There is a limited number of states participating ( the United Kingdom, Spain, and Switzerland, for example, are all outside the system).

Also, a central revocation action can be brought against a UP at any point during its life from grant to expiry.

The UP in numbers

In January-November 2023 approximately 82.000 EPs moved to grant. For about 15.000 of them or 18%, unitary effect was requested. Most of them concern medical technology, civil engineering, and transport.

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