E. Publications and file inspection
I.Register for unitary patent protection
117The participating Member States have given the EPO some additional tasks to be carried out in accordance with its "internal rules". The tasks assigned under Article 9(1)(b) Regulation (EU) No 1257/2012 are the inclusion and administration of the Register for unitary patent protection within the European Patent Register.
118Article 2(e) Regulation (EU) No 1257/2012 specifies that "Register for unitary patent protection means the register constituting part of the European Patent Register in which the unitary effect and any limitation, licence, transfer, revocation or lapse of a European patent with unitary effect are registered."
119A Register for unitary patent protection has therefore been set up as an integral but special part of the European Patent Register already kept by the EPO under Article 127 EPC (see Rule 15 UPR). For reasons of legal certainty and transparency for users, the Register for unitary patent protection has the same basic structure and functionality as the European Patent Register.
120The Register for unitary patent protection contains all the entries that are expressly but not exhaustively listed in Regulation (EU) No 1257/2012, in particular the fact that unitary effect has been registered and the date of that registration.
121The Register for unitary patent protection comprises procedural information such as the date of filing of the request for unitary effect for the European patent, the participating Member States in which the Unitary Patent has effect pursuant to Article 18(2) Regulation (EU) No 1257/2012 and the date of filing – and, if applicable, the date of any withdrawal – of a statement on licences of rights. It also contains data as to the payment of renewal fees for Unitary Patents and information on decisions on the validity of Unitary Patents taken by the Unified Patent Court. Please refer to Rule 16(1) UPR for these register entries.