More than 27,000 unitary patents registered in the first, successful year of the Unitary Patent system

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission.

Over the first successful year of application of the Unitary Patent system, the European Patent Office (EPO) has already registered more than 27,000 unitary patents. This means that on average, almost one in four (23%) granted European patents apply across all participating Member States. This rate is also steadily increasing. The uptake rate reaches almost 50% among applicants established in Denmark and Poland, and about 40% in Spain. Most patents are awarded for medical technology (31%), civil engineering (6%) and transport (5%). 

About 350 cases have so far been initiated before the Unified Patent Court (UPC). This new court now enables centralised litigation not only for unitary patents, for which UPC has exclusive competence, but also for non-unitary European patents, under certain conditions.

Launched in June 2023, the Unitary Patent plays a crucial role in completing Europe’s Single Market for patents and has become a game-changer for the EU’s innovation and competitiveness. The system makes it easier for companies to protect their innovations, providing a one-stop shop for obtaining and enforcing patents in Europe. This allows companies to save costs as well as reduce paperwork and administrative burden. The creation of the Unified Patent Court also makes patent litigation less burdensome and expensive while providing increased legal certainty.

Currently 17 EU Member States participate in the Unitary Patent system, representing about three quarters of the EU’s GDP. The system is also open to other Member States. Soon, Romania will become the 18th participating member.

The Commission also aims to strengthen the system further with the creation of a unitary supplementary protection certificate (SPC), which will allow for the extension of unitary patent rights for specific authorised pharmaceutical and plant protection products in a unitary manner.

Background

The Unitary Patent system is based on two EU regulations (the Unitary Patent Protection regulation and the regulation on the Unitary Patent language regime) and an international agreement between EU countries to set up the Unified Patent Court. The agreement was ratified in early 2023, allowing the Unitary Patent system to come into force on 1 June 2023.

Patent registrations are managed by the European Patent Office (EPO). To obtain a unitary patent, an applicant first applies for a European patent according to the usual rules and procedures of the EPO. Then, once the European patent is granted, the patent holder may request the EPO to attribute unitary effect to that patent, within one month from the grant, resulting in a unitary patent applying in all the participating Member States without any additional validation requirements.

For More Information

Commission Unitary Patent system web page

EPO web pages on the unitary patent system

Unified Patent Court website

Quote(s)

Patents are essential for European innovation and competitiveness. The new Unitary Patent system provides a one-stop shop for the registration of patents in Europe, making patent protection stronger, simpler and less expensive – to the benefit of all companies, in particular SMEs. More than 27.000 patents have been registered after only one year, covering 17 Member States. I encourage the remaining Member States to join the unitary patent soon.

Thierry Breton, Commissioner for Internal Market