Unitary Patent System

Nowadays, the protection of a patent can be obtained by using the following routes:

1. national route, by filing a national patent application directly in the country concerned and according to the national law of the respective country;
2. international route in one or more concerned countries, by filing a single international application under Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT)¹. Upon opening national phase(s), the international application will be "transformed" into a "bundle" of national applications governed by national laws of the countries (members to PCT), as designated in the international application;
3. European patent route, whereby the patent protection can be obtained under the European Patent Convention (EPC) in about 40 countries (members to EPC) by filing a single patent application. The patent rights are granted by European Patent Office (EPO)², but the protective effect of the patent requires its validation³ in each of the designated countries. A