The European patent with unitary effect, or unitary patent, is an intellectual property right that can be obtained since June 1, 2023, following the granting of a European patent.
Thus, since that date, when a European patent is granted, it is possible to request unitary effect from the European Patent Office (EPO). This request allows a European patent to be validated in 17 European Union (EU) countries at once. This simplified procedure only requires, in addition to filing the request, the provision of a translation of the patent into English. This avoids the need to apply to the Offices of each of these 17 countries and the obligation to provide the relevant translations.
This European patent with unitary effect also involves centralised and simplified management. Its federal register is managed by the EPO. License and assignment registrations are therefore simplified, as it will no longer be necessary to file them with each national office.
While this simplification of the validation and management procedure for these 17 EU countries is, at first glance, advantageous, it nevertheless has some disadvantages that we, as counsels, must point out.
- The first is directly related to Brexit: as the United Kingdom is no longer a member of the EU, if you wish to protect your invention there, you must still go through the standard validation process with the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO).
- The European patent with unitary effect is, by definition, “unitary.” Thus, if a nullity procedure is successful before the Unified Patent Court (UPC), which has jurisdiction in this matter, the unitary patent may be revoked in all 17 countries it covers.
- Similarly, the European patent with unitary effect does not offer the flexibility of being able to abandon certain national parts in favour of others that are more strategic to reduce the costs of maintaining the European patent.
- The costs of maintaining a European patent with unitary effect are relatively high, equivalent to the costs of maintaining the European patent in three to five countries. Therefore, if you are interested in protecting your invention in only three of the countries covered by the unitary effect, the European patent with unitary effect is not necessarily the best choice from an economic and strategic point of view.