Unitary patent

Overview
On 17 December 2012 the Council of the European Union approved two regulations that create a European patent with unitary effect, the "unitary patent". This reform is considered one of the most radical changes in European patent practice in over 40 years; it will create a new unitary patent (UP) right and a unified patent court (UPC) system across Europe. Under the new legislation, a unitary patent, once granted by the EPO, will provide uniform protection in all of the participating countries. The UPC will be responsible for rulings in disputes regarding infringement or validity of a unitary patent; rulings will apply across the whole territory of the patent.

Unitary patents will be subject to the payment of a single set of renewal fees to the EPO. Entry into force is expected to occur when member states have ratified the UPC agreement. The unitary patent system will not replace the current system based on patents granted by the EPO and validated in individual countries, even though these national patents will be subject to the jurisdiction of the UPC instead of being subject to national courts. On top of this, applicants will continue to have the possibility to obtain national patents issued by national patent offices.

A unitary patent will not need to be validated in each individual member state. As such, the unitary patent will tend to offer a lower cost alternative to obtaining and maintaining a bundle of rights. By not requiring translations into a language of each contracting state, and by requiring the payment of only a single renewal fee for the group of contracting states, the unitary patent aims to be cheaper than current European patents.

The unitary patent offers savings also for enforcement. Patentees will only need to enforce their patents in one court, rather than in multiple national courts, avoiding duplicated litigation. Moreover, a unitary patent will be subject to a single legislation, as opposed to those of multiple countries. This is expected to increase legal certainty, to speed-up decisions in litigation cases and, hence, to reduce attorneys costs.