INTRODUCTION
The Unitary Patent Protection (UPP) and the Unified Patent Court (UPC) together are termed the Unitary Patent System (UPS). It means that it is conceivable to navigate between a standard European patent, a national patent and the unitary patent. The European Commission keenly endorses the execution of the European patent with unitary effect (the 'unitary patent system') and the formation of a new patent court. The unitary patent is a lawful title that will provide uniform defence across all participating countries on a one-stop-shop basis.
UNITARY PATENT PROTECTION AND THE UNIFIED PATENT COURT
A novel patent right and patent prosecution mechanism have been introduced for patent fortification in Europe, which is expected to embark at the end of 2022 or the beginning of 2023.
In the year 2012, the European Union nations and the European Parliament approved the 'patent package' – a statutory enterprise comprising of two guidelines and an international covenant that lay the foundation for the conception of unitary patent protection in the EU.
The bundle contains:
- A directive creating a European patent with unitary effect ('unitary patent')
- A directive establishing a language regime applicable to the unitary patent
- An agreement amongst EU countries to set up a solitary and dedicated patent jurisdiction (the 'Unified Patent Court')
The procedure in the EPO will eventually remain the same. Once the EPO has granted the application, the claimant has to file a request to EPO for a "unitary" patent within one month from the publication. The unitary patent offers patent safeguard with an identical effect in all participant countries within the enhanced cooperation. Provided, that the patent has been granted with the same patent claims for all member states and that all member states are designated.
The appeal must be submitted in the language in which EPO has handled the application and if that language is English, the patent has to be interpreted into an additional language. If EPO has handled the application in French or German, an English rendition has to be filed. The court system will deal with both patents with unitary effect, classic European patents and supplementary protection certificates. It will, however, be possible to opt-out for classic European patents during a transitional period of 7+7 years.
At first, Unitary Patents might not cover all participating Member States as some of them may not yet have sanctioned the UPC Contract when it enters into force. Outstanding authorizations are likely to take place consecutively, so there may be dissimilar generations of Unitary Patents with diverse regional coverage. The coverage of a given group of Unitary Patents will stay the same for their complete lifespan, regardless of any succeeding authorizations of the UPC Agreement after the date of registration of unitary effect. To summarize, there will be no addition of the regional coverage of Unitary Patents to other Member States which authorize the UPC Covenant after the registration of unitary effect by the EPO.
THE ADVANTAGES OF UNITARY PATENT PROTECTION
There is a plethora of benefits associated with the unitary patent system for Europe. A few of the pros are mentioned as below:
- Unitary patent protection will enhance the efficacy of the prevailing European patent system by making it less intricate and inexpensive for discoverers be it for individuals, companies, and research organizations.1 The renewal fees will be the amount of national renewal fees in 4 nations namely Germany, France, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Therefore, an inventor guarding their innovation with the unitary patent will pay fewer than €5,000 in renewal fees over 10 years for a territory that covers 26 EU countries, instead of the current level of around €30,000, which has proven to discourage companies from patenting in Europe.
- It will not only end difficult authentication requirements but also, radically limit expensive translation requirements in participating countries.
- As a result, it is anticipated to encourage research, development and investment in the invention, facilitating the enhancement of growth in the EU.
- It will also make it conceivable to contest patents and to obtain decisions preventing the dissemination of goods and the use of patented procedures across all the participating Member States.
UNITARY PATENT SYSTEM STRUCTURE
There are two foremost foundations of the new system:
A Unitary Patent Right (UP): Established through enhanced cooperation under Regulation 1257/2012 of 17th December 2012, will make available a lone patent right covering all the Associate Countries which participated in the enhanced cooperation. This right will not include Spain or Croatia since these countries did not participate in the enhanced cooperation and will exclude Poland as well, although it did participate, though has not signed the UPCA.
A Unified Patent Court (UPC): The UPC will have authority over all European patents (existing and forthcoming) designated to partaking EU Member States which have authorized the UPC Agreement (UPCA) (Spain, Croatia and Poland are not taking part, and neither is the UK) except they have been elected out of the new court's jurisdiction, and also all unitary patents.
CONCLUSION
To summarize, a reasonable price of renewal fees is a strategic element to ensure the desirability of the unitary patent to corporations, particularly start-ups. It will also diminish the breach amongst the cost of patent protection in Europe compared with the US, Japan and other countries.
Footnote
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
