The "Unitary Patent"

A European patent with unitary Effect

As noted in the short introduction, the "unitary patent" is the subject of EU Regulation no. 1257/2012 of 17 December 2012 (see footnote 1). It is a European patent, granted by the European Patent Office under the rules and procedures laid down in the EPC, which benefits from "unitary effect" in the "participating Member States" by virtue of EU Regulation no. 1257/2012.

Note

There are many references to "unitary patent" in the legislation. The more precise term is "European patent with unitary effect" – there are many European patents which do not, and will not, have unitary effect. As noted below, a European patent has to be registered for unitary patent protection.