ARTICLE · 21 JANUARY 2022

How To Get A Unitary Patent

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP

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Enhanced cooperation under Regulation 1257/2012 of 17 December 2012 implementing enhanced cooperation in the area of unitary patent protection was used to establish the unitary patent.

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Sebastian Moore

Frédéric Chevallier

Jonathan Turnbull

Rachel Montagnon

Enhanced cooperation under Regulation 1257/2012 of 17 December 2012 implementing enhanced cooperation in the area of unitary patent protection was used to establish the unitary patent (UP). Also termed the European patent with unitary effect, the UP will be a single patent right covering all the states that take part in the enhanced procedure. It is expected that the UP will cover 24 of the 27 Member States. This means all Member States save Croatia and Spain who have not taken part in the enhanced cooperation procedure so far, and Poland which, although it participated in the enhanced cooperation, has since indicated that it will not sign the UPC Agreement establishing the Unified Patent Court (UPC), and thus UPs will not be enforceable there (only the UPC has jurisdiction over UPs).

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