Below you will find answers to the frequently asked questions. Is your question not listed? Feel free to contact one of our experts or submit your question via the contact form.
Frequently asked questions
It depends on the number of countries were you would otherwise have validated your patent. For example, patent holders with business interests in only a few European countries will benefit less from a unitary patent than patent holders with a business interest throughout the EU.
The initial costs of a unitary patent involve the fees of service providers, and the translation costs (in a transitional period of 12 years from 1 June 2023). No official fees to the EPO are due for requesting the unitary effect. But an important cost factor of the unitary patent is the yearly renewal fee payable to the EPO. Focusing solely on the renewal fees, the EPO set these at a level corresponding to the combined renewal fees due in the four countries where European patents were most often validated in 2015 (Germany, France, the Netherlands and the UK). Now that the UK does not participate, national renewal fees are still payable to the UK if a patent is to be validated and kept in force in these top-4 countries. It follows that the unitary patent option is somewhat more expensive than the sum of national validations.
However, the upside is that the combination of a unitary patent allows central enforcement in an additional 14 EU member states against no additional costs. Considering that national validation fees are negligible, whereas renewal fee payments with associated transactional costs in a large number of countries can be substantial, the unitary patent will result in cost savings when a European patent would otherwise have been validated in at least 4 EPC member states participating in the UPC (e.g. France, Germany, Netherlands and Italy). Over the 20-year patent term of a unitary patent, the renewal fees will be in the region of €35,500. In comparison, the renewal fees for a national bundle patent in all 17 UPC states would exceed €100,000 over that same period.
Since 1 January 2023, the European Patent Office will make two transitional measures available ahead of the entry into force of the Unitary Patent system as of 1 January 2023.
The first transitional measure allows applicants to file early requests for unitary effect before the date of entry into force of the UPC (1 June 2023). For such requests filed in advance, the EPO will register the unitary effect immediately at the start of the system, provided all corresponding requirements are met.
Through the second transitional measure, an applicant may request to postpone the decision to grant. The postponement can be requested after the intention to grant has been announced, but not after the applicant has approved the text intended for granting. The postponement of the decision to grant can ensure that the date of the grant falls falls after 1 June 2023, so that the patent is eligible for unitary effect.
For European patents granted on or after 1 June 2023, the patentee can opt for registration as a unitary patent instead of validation in the participating countries. In this way, the patent will be immediately valid in all UPC countries. It should be noted that the unitary patent does not extend to the whole EU, since some EU countries do not participate in the UPC. Separate national validations will thus remain necessary for EPC contracting states that are not UPC countries. These countries include Albania, Cyprus, Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Monaco, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland/Liechtenstein, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
No. The territory of your unitary patent is set at the time the request for unitary effect of your newly granted European patent is registered with the EPO. Your unitary patent will be enforceable in the countries that have ratified the UPCA at that moment. The territorial coverage of a unitary patent will stay the same for its entire lifetime, irrespective of any subsequent ratifications of the UPC Agreement after the date of registration of unitary effect by the EPO. Hence, there will be no extension of the territorial coverage to other Member States which ratify the UPC Agreement after that date.
Yes, patents provide the broadest protection on software because they protect a principle of operation or concept, for a maximum period of 20 years. A patent gives you the exclusive rights to exclude others from copying, using, importing, and selling a patented innovation. It is a powerful right that can only be obtained when an innovation can be regarded as contributing to technical progress. See 'Obtaining a patent on software'.
An important difference pertains to the renewal fees. For a European patent that is no unitary patent, renewal fees must be paid yearly to each national patent office separately if the patent is to be kept in force (both with and without opt-out). On the other hand, only a single renewal fee needs to be paid each year for a unitary patent.
No. The unitary patent is a single (indivisible) legal title extending to all UPC countries. This means that the unitary patent cannot be transferred in part. It can also not be limited, revoked or abandoned in respect of some UPC countries. You may, however, still be licensed to some or all territories of the UPC.