Overview
Europe is launching a new patent system with two major changes: a single patent right (Unitary Patent) and a unified court system (Unified Patent Court [UPC]) to handle disputes.
Unitary Patent
The current European Patent Office system requires applicants to choose which European countries to validate a granted application in. This can lead to high costs from translation, validation, and recurring renewal fees for each selected country.
The Unitary Patent aims to simplify this process by providing a single patent right for 17 participating European countries. Non-participating countries like Croatia, Poland, Spain, and the UK can still be covered using the traditional validation process. When filing a patent in Europe, applicants can choose between the Unitary Patent with uniform rights in participating countries or the traditional validation process in selected countries. The Unitary Patent comes with a single annual renewal fee and reduced translation costs after a 6-year transition period, if the patent is filed in English, French, or German. The Unitary Patent became available when the UPC was established on June 1, 2023.
Unified Patent Court (UPC)
The UPC has exclusive jurisdiction to handle unitary patent disputes, including infringement and revocation proceedings. The UPC will have exclusive jurisdiction over non-unitary European patents after a 7-year transition period unless patent holders opt out. By opting out, patent holders retain the right to litigate in national courts.
