European patents granted by the EPO after June 1, 2023, will have unitary effect in the 17 EU Member States that have joined and ratified the Agreement on the Unified Patent Court (“UPCA”), with more member states expected to join. The unitary patent (“UP”) is a single patent with a “unitary” effect in multiple EU countries. The Unified Patent Court (“Court” or “UPC”) has sole jurisdiction over unitary patents, and, by default, all European patents (“EP”) granted by the European Patent Office, including those already granted. A single renewal fee is payable for all participating countries. The UPC centralizes infringement and validity cases.
Before a Unitary Patent can be registered by the EPO, the applicant must first obtain a European patent. A European patent application must, therefore, be filed and processed under the European Patent Convention (“EPC”) in the same way as classic European patents. The difference is post grant. Once a European patent has been granted, the patent proprietor must submit a “request for unitary effect” to the EPO no later than one month after the date of publication of the mention of the grant in the European Patent Bulletin. To be eligible for registration as a Unitary Patent, the European patent must have been granted with the same set of claims (see section below on “First National Rights”) in respect of all the member states participating in enhanced co‑operation (25 member states as of the date of this publication).
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