After decades of discussion, the so-called “Unitary Patent System”, i.e. the establishment of a Unitary Patent (UP) and a Unified Patent Court (UPC), entered into force on 1 June 2023. The Unitary Patent (UP) aims to provide a single approach to patent protection and enforcement across 24 European Union Member States with a combined population of more than 350 million.

Using the existing European patent application procedure, a Unitary Patent will be administered centrally by the European Patent Office (EPO). Once obtained, a Unitary Patent will be enforceable throughout the participating Member States in a single action brought before the new Unified Patent Court (UPC).

The Unitary Patent entered into force on 1 June 2023 and will be a supplement to the existing European Patent.

Initially, Unitary Patents does not cover all participating Member States as some of them have not yet ratified the UPC Agreement. Outstanding ratifications are likely to occur successively, so there will be different generations of Unitary Patents with different territorial coverage. The coverage of a given generation of Unitary Patents will stay the same for their entire lifetime, irrespective of any subsequent ratifications of the UPC Agreement after the date of registration of unitary effect.
In other words, there will be no extension of the territorial coverage of Unitary Patents to other Member States which ratify the UPC Agreement after the registration of unitary effect by the EPO.

The Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court in short

• The Unified Patent Court and the Unitary Patent are the building blocks which will supplement and strengthen the existing centralised European patent granting system.
• They will offer users of the patent system a cost-effective option for patent protection and dispute settlements across Europe.
• The Unified Patent Court entered into force 1 June 2023, and Unitary Patents have been granted from the same day.
• The UPC is an international court set up by participating EU and EPC member states
• The UPC deals with infringement and validity of Unitary patents, European patents, and supplementary protection certificates (SPCs).
• Unitary Patents make it possible to get patent protection in up to 24 of the 27 EU member states by submitting a single request to the European Patent Office, making the procedure simpler and more cost effective for applicants compared to the present procedure of national validation of granted EP patents.
• However, as of today, June 2024, only 18 of the 24 participating EU states have ratified the Agreement of the Unified Patent Court (UPCA) and 3 EU states are still not signatory states

24 out of the 27 EU member states are part of the Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court:

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakia

 

18 out of the 24 UPC member states have ratified the Agreement of the Unified Patent Court (UPCA):

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania (as per 1 September 2024), Sweden, Slovenia

 

Patent grant process and unitary effect:

Our specialist Unitary Patent team consists of experienced European Patent Attorneys. The team is ready to help you understand the new system and enforce your patent rights throughout Europe.

If you wish to learn more about the background and history of the UPC, go to unified-patent-court.org or www.epo.org.