Why was the Unitary Patent introduced?

Before the Unitary Patent was introduced, an inventor could protect an invention in Europe via a national patent or a European patent. The EPO examines applications for European patents centrally, saving inventors the costs of parallel national applications, while ensuring a high quality of granted patents.

However, granted European patents must be validated and maintained individually in each country where they take effect. This is a complex and very costly process: validation requirements differ between countries and can lead to high direct and indirect costs, including translation costs, validation fees (i.e. fees due in some countries for publication of the translations) and associated representation costs, such as the attorney fees charged for the validation and administration of the patent (i.e. payment of national renewal fees). These costs can be considerable and depend on the number of countries where the patent proprietor wishes to validate the European patent.

The Unitary Patent removes the need for these complex and costly national validation procedures. The EPO acts as a one-stop-shop, allowing for a simple registration of a Unitary Patent for the territory of, initially, 17 EU Member States.

For further details, please see the Unitary Patent Guide.