Unitary Patent Guidelines
April 2025 edition
The Unitary Patent Guidelines (UP Guidelines) provide guidance on the practice and procedure for unitary patent protection, in accordance with the applicable EU Regulations, the Rules relating to Unitary Patent Protection and the Rules relating to Fees for Unitary Patent Protection. This is the first edition of the UP Guidelines entered into force on 1 April 2025. The publication of the UP Guidelines was announced in the corresponding notice published in the Official Journal (OJ EPO 2025, A6).
Available formats
The UP Guidelines are published only in HTML format and are accessible free of charge in the three official languages of the EPO (English, French and German).
HTML version
Content
The UP Guidelines are structured into seven parts covering every aspect of the unitary patent proceedings, including reestablishment of rights, interruption and resumption of proceedings, and feature an alphabetical keyword index. All parts and indexes can be accessed via the Unitary Patent Guidelines web page.
Feedback on this edition
Each spring, the EPO will invite users to provide feedback on the most recent version of the UP Guidelines in a user consultation. A public consultation was done for this first version of the UP Guidelines in spring 2025. Further suggestions for additions or improvements are welcome at any time of the year and may be sent to Guidelines@epo.org.
Revision cycle
The UP Guidelines are revised annually to keep them aligned with the latest legal and procedural developments and to improve their content on the basis of feedback received in the course of the annual public user consultation. All comments are discussed with the SACEPO Working Party on Guidelines, which meets twice a year to come to an agreement on the suggested updates and clarifications. Reports of the meetings are published under Updates on the Guidelines revision cycle web page.