The Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court at a Glance

What is a Unitary Patent?

Scope:

Unitary patents cover all countries that are party to the Unified Patent Court Agreement (UPCA). If a Unitary Patent is requested, European patents cannot be validated nationally in the UPCA countries.
The countries covered include Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Austria and Portugal.
- Broad geographic protection in a single patent.
Countries not covered include United Kingdom, Spain, Switzerland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Romania, Czech Republic, Hungary, Türkiye and Greece.
- National validation in countries not covered still required, but many countries do not require translation.

Action on grant:

Unitary Patent is available for all European (EPO) patent applications with a filing date of 1 March 2007 or later and must be requested within one month of grant of the European Patent. Translation into another EU language is required, but for information only.
Applicants must remember to validate in other major countries (such as the UK) or to select only National validations (“Classic” European patent) which is less expensive overall if only a small number of countries, e.g. UK, France and Germany, are selected.

Post grant:

The Unified Patent Court has exclusive jurisdiction for the enforcement and revocation of Unitary Patents.
EPO oppositions can be filed within nine months of grant, even if a Unitary Patent has been requested.
A single annual renewal fee is paid to EPO post grant (roughly equivalent to 3-4 national renewal fees).
Currently around 25% of granted European patents are resulting in a Unitary Patent

What is the Unified Patent Court?

Scope:

The Unified Patent Court is the only jurisdiction for litigation of Unitary Patents and litigation potentially covers all UPCA countries in a single action.
- There is also jurisdiction for European patents validated nationally in UPCA countries.
Nationally validated European patents can be opted-out of the jurisdiction of the UPC for an initial seven-year transitional period. The opt-out can be withdrawn once if no national proceedings have commenced.

The Courts:

Court of First Instance:
- Central Division: generally, for revocation actions or declarations of non-infringement.
- Local and Regional divisions: generally, for infringement actions and counterclaims for invalidity.
Central Division has three seats:
- Paris for electronics, software and physics
- Milan for chemistry, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and medical devices
- Munich for mechanical engineering.
Court of Appeal in Luxembourg

Features:

Injunctions, including preliminary injunctions, damages and costs are available.
Rapid timescales with first instance decisions and appeals within 12 to 15 months.
English is an available language of proceedings in all divisions with judges encouraged to use English. Over 50% of cases so far have used English as the language of proceedings.
Representation is possible for any lawyer of a UPCA country OR any suitably qualified European Patent Attorney.
The UK has over 1,000 registered UPC representatives – the second largest number in Europe.

Activity:

As at 1 April 2025 nearly 800 cases have been brought before the court, including around 300 infringement actions and 60 standalone revocation actions. 58 appeals have been filed.