Guide to the unitary patent (UP)

This guide was last updated 01 June 2023.

In this guide we explain the key points of the unitary patent. We have published a separate guide to the UPC (see Guide to the Unified Patent Court (UPC)).

The unitary patent (UP) and Unified Patent Court (UPC) together represent the biggest change to the European patent system in more than 40 years. Having entered into force on 01 June 2023, it is vital that users of the European patent system are aware of the opportunities and risks the new system brings.

The unitary patent is a single patent right with effect in those European Patent Convention (EPC) states which are:

1. part of the European Union (EU) and
2. have signed and ratified the UPC Agreement.

The unitary patent has not replaced the European patent system. Nothing has changed in the way in which a European patent application is filed, prosecuted and granted by the European Patent Office (EPO). The opposition and appeal procedure before the EPO still applies. The unitary patent exists alongside the bundle of national patent rights currently available by validating a European patent. Independent national patent systems also continue to be available.

Further advice

It is impossible in a guide of this nature to deal with every detail of the unitary patent. If you are contemplating using the system, you should take specific and detailed advice relating to your particular circumstances. We are happy to provide more detailed and specific advice on request.

The unitary patent has been created via the unitary patent package. This includes the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (UPC Agreement) which was signed by 25 EU member states on 19 February 2013, Regulation (EU) No 1257/2012 concerning unitary patent protection, and Regulation (EU) No 1260/2012 setting out the translation arrangements for such protection.

After the withdrawal of the UK from the EU following Brexit, the UK also withdrew from the UPC Agreement. This leaves the following 24 EU member states taking part in the UP and UPC:

The UPC Agreement takes effect in all signatory countries that have ratified the UPC Agreement.

References in this guide to “contracting member states” are therefore to countries that have both signed and ratified the UPC Agreement. Member states within this group will increase in number as more signatories ratify the Agreement, and if further EU countries sign and ratify.

The procedure for requesting unitary effect is relatively straightforward. Upon grant of a European patent which has been searched, examined and granted by the EPO according to the pre-existing system, the patent proprietor has the option of filing a ‘request for unitary effect’. This request must be filed within one month of the mention of grant in the European Patent Bulletin. No official fee is payable.

Who can file the request?

The request for unitary effect must be filed by the proprietor or their professional representative. If the European patent is granted to multiple proprietors, for the same or different contracting member states, a common representative must file the request.

Registration and remedies

If all of the requirements are met (once a request is filed) the EPO will register the unitary effect in the Register for unitary patent protection, and inform the requester of the date of registration. This date is crucial for determining the scope of the unitary patent, as this is dependent on those countries that have both signed and ratified the UPC Agreement by the date of registration.

If no request for unitary effect is filed by the one-month deadline, no extension is available and no communication will be issued by the EPO. Re-establishment of rights will be available.

Where a request for unitary effect is filed outside of the one-month deadline, the EPO will issue a communication rejecting the request. Re-establishment of rights will be available.

Translation of patent specification

During a transitional period of at least six years from the beginning of the system, the request for unitary effect must include a translation of the patent specification. After the transitional period, no translation will be required.

The translation to be filed is dictated by the language of proceedings before the EPO:

The transitional period for the unitary patent is six years with a review at the end of the six years, and then every two years thereafter. This review will evaluate the availability of high quality machine translations into all the official languages of the EU.

When a European patent application is filed in an EU official language other than English, French and German and the patent proprietor fulfils certain conditions, compensation may be requested for translation costs. At the time of writing this compensation is up to a ceiling of €500.

The conditions for the proprietor to fulfil include:

• having residence or principal place of business in the EU; and
• being a small or medium-sized enterprise, a natural person, a non-profit organisation, or a university or public research organisation.

Availability of a unitary patent

A unitary patent is only available if the European patent grants with the "same set of claims" in all of the unitary patent member states irrespective of whether these states have ratified the UPC Agreement or not.

This means a unitary patent will only be available for European patent applications filed on or after 01 March 2007, which have not been amended in view of national prior rights. 01 March 2007 is the date which Malta (the final country that is currently both an EU member state and a UPC member state) acceded to the EPC.

If Croatia signs the UPC Agreement then a unitary patent will only be available for European applications which were filed on or after 01 January 2008. This is the date on which Croatia joined the EPC and, hence the date on which there will be a set of claims in all of the member states.

There is also speculation that a unitary patent will not be available for a European patent application which does not designate all of the participating member states, that is, applications filed before 01 April 2009 when it was possible to pay up to seven designation fees.

The Register for Unitary Patent Protection is a new register which forms an integrated part of the European Patent Register.

It shows:

• that unitary effect has been registered for a European patent;
• the date of that registration;
• the member states in which the European patent has unitary effect;
• information regarding the payment of renewal fees;
• details of any supplementary protection certificate(s) for a product protected by the patent, as well as the member state issuing the certificates; and
• any rights or transfers of rights which have been appropriately registered.

The Register for Unitary Patent Protection also provides information concerning proceedings before the UPC. It is envisaged that there will be a link between the Register for Unitary Patent Protection and the Registry of the UPC.

A unitary patent takes effect in the member states which have signed and ratified the UPC Agreement at the date of registration of unitary effect by the EPO. This means that unitary patents obtained in the early years’ of the system will have a different geographical coverage to unitary patents obtained in later years.

The current status of ratification can be found at: http://dycip.com/upcratification.

Relationship with validation

The unitary patent co-exists with the validation process upon grant of a European patent. For contracting member states which have ratified the UPC Agreement, the patent proprietor has a choice of obtaining a unitary patent, validating according to the current procedure, or a combination of both.

For those EPC states which have:

1. not ratified the UPC Agreement (for example, Ireland at the time of writing),
2. not signed the UPC Agreement (for example, Spain or Poland), or
3. which are not part of the EU (for example, UK, Switzerland, Norway),

the current validation process must be used.

Old procedure

Current procedure

The annual renewal fee for a unitary patent is due on the last day of the month in which the anniversary of the filing date of the European patent application falls. This fee is payable to the EPO and can be paid by any interested party.

The first renewal fee will be due in respect of the year following the year in which the mention of the grant of the underlying European patent is published in the European Patent Bulletin. If the first renewal fee falls due between the date of grant and three months from notification that the request for unitary effect has been registered, then this first renewal fee can be paid up to the end of the three month period without any late fees being due.

An example timeline of what this means in practice is shown below.

If a renewal fee is not paid in time, then the late renewal fee may still be validly paid within a six-month grace period as long as an additional fee, which is 50% of the late renewal fee, is also paid.

If the renewal fee is not validly paid within the six-month grace period then the EPO should issue a communication notifying the patent proprietor of their loss of rights. The only remedy available is re-establishment of rights.

If a renewal fee is not paid, then the unitary patent will lapse in respect of all states where it has been effect. It is not possible to drop states from a unitary patent by failing to pay renewal fees. The scope of a unitary patent is fixed throughout the patent life; it is an 'all-in or all-out' system. This is a potential downside of the unitary patent, which is discussed later in this guide.

At the time of writing the official fee (in Euros) for renewing a unitary patent is:

Renewal fees also need to be paid separately to those national patent offices where a bundle national patent is obtained according to the validation procedure as was in place before entering into force of the UPC Agreement.

For example, if you request unitary effect but also want to obtain protection in the UK, the European patent will need to be validated in the UK additionally to the request for unitary effect, and renewal fees will be due to the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) in respect of the UK designation of the European patent on top of the renewal fee payable to the EPO for the unitary patent.

A 15% reduction in the renewal fees (and any additional fees due) can be obtained if the proprietor files a statement with the EPO that they are willing to allow any person to have a licence in return for appropriate consideration.

The availability of a ‘licence of right’ can be withdrawn at any time but if an exclusive licence is recorded in the Register for unitary patent protection or a request to record such a licence is pending before the EPO, it is not possible to record licences of right.

As an object of property a unitary patent is treated in its entirety and in all the member states where it has effect as a national patent of the member state in which, according to the European Patent Register:

1. the applicant had their residence or principal place of business on the date of filing of the European patent application; or
2. where point (a) does not apply, the applicant had a place of business on the date of filing of the European patent application.

Where there are two or more applicants, point (1) applies to the applicant indicated first. Where this is not possible, point (1) above applies to the next applicant indicated in the order of entry. Where (1) does not apply to any of the applicants, point (2) above applies accordingly.

Where no applicant had their residence, principal place of business or place of business in a contracting member state, the unitary patent shall be treated in its entirety as a national patent of Germany. In other words, German law will apply.

The national law to be applied is important for issues such as entitlement, employee invention disputes, assignments, licences and the rights of co-owners. This has important consequences because national laws differ significantly on such issues.

In the case of research or joint venture/collaboration agreements, it may be worth considering including a clause in the agreement to indicate the order of multiple applicants should a European patent application be filed. It may also be worth drawing up contractual agreements addressing assignment/licensing provisions in order to vary the national law which will be applied if the provisions under the national law which would be applied are undesirable for the parties involved.

Rights in a unitary patent

Rights in a unitary patent can only be transferred in respect of all the member states where it has effect. A unitary patent may be licensed in respect of the whole or part of the territories of the contracting member states. A licence is recorded in the Register for unitary patent protection as an exclusive licence if the proprietor and licensee require; a licence is recorded as a sub-licence where it is granted by a licensee whose licence is recorded in the Register for unitary patent protection.

The unitary patent system has no direct effect on existing European patents. It is not possible to convert existing European patents into unitary patents.

The unitary patent also has no effect on the availability of national patents via the national patent offices.

Whether a unitary patent can co-exist for the same invention with a direct national patent depends on national law. At the time of writing, it is proposed in Germany that double patenting be allowed with a German national patent and a unitary patent for the same invention. It is also proposed that a German national patent and a bundle national patent (that is, a European patent validated in Germany) be allowed to co-exist for the same invention, unless the bundle national patent has been opted out of the UPC. The opt-out is covered in our Guide to the Unified Patent Court.

SPCs may be obtained in EU countries for patented medicinal products or plant protection products that require marketing authorisation (regulatory approval) before they can be released on the market.

Under current legislation, SPCs must be applied for at the national patent office of the country where protection is desired: there is no centralised European institution for grant of SPCs. This will continue under the unitary patent, as there is currently no provision for unitary SPCs. However, it is possible to base national SPCs on a unitary patent, a current bundle national patent, or a direct national patent.

At the time of writing, proposals have been submitted to the EU Commission for a unitary SPC based on the unitary patent.

With a unitary patent the proprietor has the right to prevent any third party from committing an infringing act throughout the territories of the member states where the patent has unitary effect. More information and advice on these infringing acts can be sought from your D Young & Co representative.

For example, the proprietor of a unitary patent has the right to prevent third parties from supplying goods or ‘essential means’ for putting the invention into effect throughout the territories of the member states where the patent has unitary effect (provided the knowledge requirement is met). This protection is somewhat broader than that previously available with a validated European patent because the ‘supply’ and ‘putting into effect’ does not have to be within the same country.

Exhaustion is also applicable: the proprietor of a unitary patent cannot prevent any third party from committing acts which are carried out in relation to a particular product, after that product has been placed on the market where the patent has unitary effect by, or with the consent of, the proprietor.

Third parties seeking freedom-to-operate in Europe need to consider carefully the scope of any unitary patent as well as the existence of any bundle national rights and independent national patents.

The unitary patent system has no effect on the opposition and appeal procedure before the EPO, and decisions of the EPO’s Opposition Division and Boards of Appeal apply to unitary patents.

Outside of the nine-month opposition period, the UPC must be used to challenge the validity of a unitary patent.

Unitary patents offer a number of advantages for proprietors compared to the European patent system. As with all new systems, there are also a number of disadvantages.

A unitary patent provides widespread coverage across multiple EU countries with the convenience of central administration by the EPO, a single renewal fee payable to the EPO, and central enforcement and litigation in the UPC. It also has the added advantages of limited translation costs and cost-effective renewal fees when compared to widespread EU coverage obtained via either bundle national patents from a granted European patent or from directly filed national patents. These advantages are seen by many as desirable.

The limited translation costs are in contrast to obtaining a bundle of national patents where, depending on the countries chosen and/or the implementation of the London Agreement by those countries, there can be a several translations of either the full specification or the claims required.

For patent proprietors who normally validate their European patents widely, particularly in multiple countries which each require a translation of the patent specification into a different language, the unitary patent offers potentially significant cost savings. Of course, for proprietors who validate in relatively few countries requiring limited translations and/or no translations at all (for example, France and Germany), such cost savings are likely to be limited.

Depending on the number of bundle national patents normally obtained from a granted European patent, the single renewal fee due for a unitary patent may also be cost-effective.

The schedule of renewal fees has been modelled on a ‘true top 4’ system. At a very general level, it is therefore expected to be cost effective for those patent proprietors who validate in four or more EPC contracting states taking part in the UPC.

Balanced against this cost-effectiveness is the loss of flexibility to reduce renewal fees over the patent lifetime. The unitary patent is an ‘all-in or all-out scheme’.

This means that countries cannot be dropped in order to reduce scope of protection and reduce cost.

Finally, central enforcement of a unitary patent in multiple countries via the UPC has to be balanced against the risk of central revocation. For 'business-critical' patents, the risk of central revocation is likely to be enough to dissuade a patent proprietor from obtaining a unitary patent. For less important patents, or a portfolio with multiple patents covering a single product, this risk may be outweighed by the limited translation costs and/or cost-effective renewal fee.

Clearly the decision of whether or to obtain a unitary patent should be made on a case-by-case basis.