The Unitary Patent System: How To Prepare

The Unitary Patent system in Europe has been a long time coming. Started in December 2012 by regulations approved by the European Parliament, it will finally apply with the entry into force of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) Agreement. This is expected to occur by the end of 2022 or beginning of 2023, depending on the time required to establish the court's operations.

Under current European patent practice, when a European patent is granted, the applicant must select individual countries in which to validate the patent. This requires payment of separate fees to each validation country. Patent enforcement is also country-specific: To prevent infringement in multiple countries, the patent holder must bring an enforcement proceeding in each country.