Unitary Patent

The costs of a unitary patent differ in many cases from the costs of a ''classic'' European patent.

The unitary patent came into force since 1 June 2023

The unitary patent provides protection for the following 17 countries of the European Union; Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland and Sweden.

A unitary patent is not valid worldwide. For EU countries that do not participate in the unitary patent, the situation remains “the same” and protection can only be obtained through a “classic” European patent.

The unitary patent was created to make it easier and cheaper to obtain patent protection in several European countries at the same time. A unitary patent is (as stated above) more cost-efficient, in particular with regard to the costs of the renewal fees, and on the other hand, the "Unified Patent Court" to be set up offers the possibility to establish the validity of a unitary patent - or infringement of a unitary patent - “centrally”, without having to initiate separate procedures at national level.

Patents are essentially national rights. This means that patents must in principle be applied for in every country where you would like to establish patent rights.

This is a new European patent court where unitary patent disputes are settled. This court only deals with patent cases.